


Protect My Heart

by Erik_In_CT



Series: Affairs of the Heart [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:27:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 30,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26067961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erik_In_CT/pseuds/Erik_In_CT
Summary: After the departure of the Cullen family in New Moon, Bella soon finds another hobby that will take her to places she's never imagined.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Bella Swan
Series: Affairs of the Heart [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1900063
Comments: 2
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a piece I actually wrote back in 2010. I've decided to go through, clean up areas that I made mistakes in before, and add some new things to improve the overall story. I'm not rewriting the entire thing, so the writing may not be on the same level as my other works (I've grown a lot in the writing over the last 10 years!).

It had only been a few months since _they_ had left, and Bella was still trying to learn how to live again. The pain had been unbearable at first, so much so that she hadn't even been able to face going to school. She was back in school now, though her melancholy had ostracized her from the other students. Where she had once had an awkward, but open friendship with several of her classmates, there was now only whispers behind her back, and glares from across the room. The only one of her friends that didn't seem completely put off by her depression was the meek Angela Webber, who was at least trying to still talk to her.

She tried to allow herself to open up again, but it seemed impossible. The hole in her heart still burned with an intense pain. The only times she really felt alive again were the fleeting hours she spent with Jacob Black, fixing up those old motorcycles. She found she actually picked up Jacob's technical lessons pretty easily. And even more surprised to learn that she actually enjoyed them. That's how she found herself where she was now; sitting in her bedroom with bits and pieces of collected and recycled hardware, thumbing through a book explaining the inner workings of computers. She figured if she could work out how to put together a motorcycle engine and make it work, she should be able to figure out a way to improve the ancient computer that Charlie had bought for her when she first moved to Forks.

The old desktop Charlie had given her when she moved in had been completely torn apart and mixed with her collection of hardware. What had once been completely foreign concepts to her were now starting to consume her thoughts. The computer was completely different than the motorcycle, of course, but Bella found that she just enjoyed the process of taking apart, putting back together, and working out the problems. Once she did some studying on computer hardware and design, she was able to figure most of that out. The programming would come later, but she had seen that the library in Port Angeles offered coding classes as part of an outreach program of the local tech school. Charlie encouraged her new hobby, seeing how it had started to draw her out of her depression. And so he easily relented when she would ask for funds to buy new gadgets, even if he didn't fully understand what they were for.

Hearing the doorbell ring, Bella jumped up and hurried down the steps. _Finally,_ she thought to herself as she pulled the door open and found the mailman waiting with a small assortment of packages.

"Afternoon Ms. Swan," he said as he passed her a clipboard to sign. She replied in kind as she scrawled her name across the papers and took the boxes from the man. 

"Thanks," she said as she closed the door and rushed back up to her room. Opening the boxes and removing the bubble wrapped pieces, she carefully unwrapped them and looked them over. "Perfect," she said to herself with delight, and with a smile on her face, she began to dig into her work. 

*** 

It was thanks to her newest hobby that Bella slowly started to able to smile and talk to the kids at school again. And thanks to her redeveloping people skills, she was finally able to appreciate the friends she had in Forks a little more. Things with Jessica were still a little awkward, and probably would be for awhile yet, but she found herself growing closer to Angela, and by extension, Eric. At first it was uncomfortable, but she soon found herself willingly seeking out their companionship. Angela, thankfully, didn't seem threatened by Bella's growing friendship with her boyfriend, and Bella enjoyed the time they spent together. 

One day, when Angela and Eric were visiting over at Bella's house, Eric was astounded by the array of techno gadgetry they found littered all over Bella's room. He began asking her about her projects, and before long, they were elbow deep in computer code, playing with variations on programs that Bella was trying to put together. Thankfully Angela was quite patient with them, happy to see Bella becoming more and more open to those around her. So when her boyfriend and her best friend starting speaking in, what was to her, and alien language, she simply laughed it off and went downstairs to muster up some lunch from Bella's kitchen for the three of them. 

"...this line of code here," Eric was saying as Angela returned with a large bowl of chips and dip, and a couple of sodas. 

"Hey guys, not to interrupt the strategic meeting, but I brought some snacks!" Angela grinned at the two of them and set the proffered food and drink on the nightstand next to Bella's bed. 

"Excellent!" Eric said as he jumped up and snagged a handful of chips from the bowl. "This is really cool Ang. Bella is actually writing a program that would make her computer system a fully voice and video interactive system." 

"Wow...like on 'Star Trek' or something?" Angela handed a plate of chips to her best friend as she looked at the pads of paper covered in Bella's writing. "I didn't know you were so into that kinda stuff Bella." 

"It's a recent development," Bella answered as she popped open a soda can. "Suprisingly, I find that I actually understand all this pretty easily. And it's fun watching all these little parts come together into something more than themselves, and knowing that I made it happen." In truth it had taken several weeks of intensive study, often staying up until the early hours of morning reading through guidebooks or other materials. She did catch on to the concepts very easily, and seemed to have an intuitive sense of what would work and what would not. But it was so much fun, and so gratifying, that she did not mind the hard work, especially when it paid off as it did. 

"That makes sense I guess," Angela said with a grin for her friend. "Just so long as you don't go building 'Terminators' or something." The three of them laughed at the joke, and Bella found herself truly happy again for the first time in a long time. 


	2. Chapter 2

Bella sat back in her chair and sighed with a mixture of relief and joy. She had just finished putting the finishing touches on her new programming for the computer she had modified from her old desktop. With Eric's enthusiastic help, she had been able to figure out just about every little detail that she could foresee, and felt that she had come up with a pretty complex and unique program. The question now was...would it work? She felt pretty confident that it would, and now was the big test.

She checked to make sure that all her components were plugged in properly, and held her breath as she flipped the main switch. For a moment the screens remained blank, and she feared that she had somehow messed it all up, but then she heard the whirring of the computer motors, and suddenly the main monitor flared to life. She watched as the operating system she had designed with Eric's help booted up, the codes flashing across the screen as they loaded. Then the home screen loaded and she was up and running. An exclamation escaped her lips as her hands eagerly darted to the keyboard, pulling up the command prompt and loading the programs she had put together to make the computer fully interactive.

It had been months of work, studying all night long, reading countless books, experimenting and testing programs, but it had been such an amazing experience for her. She understood computers in a way that she had never really understood anything else. A technical savant, that's what Eric had called her. She had laughed about it, but secretly found herself pleased at the thought. It just made sense.

She worked for several hours loading different programs, and writing in line after line of code. Finally, a small blinking light on the webcam mounted above the monitor informed her that the visual input was active. Then a flash on the smaller screen next to the main monitor drew her attention. Green text flashed across the screen, a boot up routine for the AI program she had painstakingly written over several months. Then the scrolling codes disappeared, leaving a single blinking phrase. 'Hello Ms. Bella.'

***

It was late when Charlie finally made it home from work. He was surprised to find Bella sitting in the living room with a plate of food watching TV. Nowadays she was usually holed up in her room with her tech stuff.

"Hey Bells," he called out as he stripped off his jacket, hanging it and his gun belt on the hook next to the door.

"Hey Dad!" Bella called back. "There's a sandwich for you in the fridge."

"Thanks kid," he said as he opened the refrigerator and found the promised food. Grabbing the plate and a handful of potato chips from a bag, he joined Bella on the couch. Looking her over, he was surprised by what he saw. For the first time in months she looked truly happy. He had been worried about her for quite a while after the Cullens had left, but she seemed to be doing so much better now. The weight she had lost as she was in her funk had been regained, and she no longer looked unhealthy. She even smiled most of the time. Charlie felt himself giving a little grin at his assessment.

"What?" Bella asked, noticing his scrutiny.

He shrugged. "Nothing…you just seem…in good spirits. Something happen?"

Bella smiled, he liked seeing that. "Yeah. Finished the first part of my project."

"That's great Bells," Charlie said. He knew she had been working really hard at something, but to be honest, it was well beyond him, so he usually just let her do her thing. But he had to admit that he was curious. "When do I get to see what you've been up to?"

"I'll show you after dinner dad, "she said. "It's really cool."

"I'm sure it is," replied as he dug into his sandwich, turning his attention to the TV. She was watching some mindless sitcom that didn't really interest him, but he watched it nonetheless. It was just nice to have Bella back and socializing with him.

After they finished eating, and Bella had washed and dried their plates, Charlie followed her up the stairs to her room. He had gotten used to her room looking like the 'Geek Squad' had blown up all over it, so he wasn't shocked to see bits of computer pieces, circuit boards, wires, and such laying around. But it did seem that a lot of it had been reassembled into something resembling a computer, albeit a very complicated looking one. There seemed to be two different monitors, and a bunch of other stuff set up around it.

"It's mostly voice activated now," Bella was explaining as she moved some spare parts off of the work space. "Though I don't have the voice response programmed yet. I need to find a voice I like first."

"Wait a minute," Charlie interrupted. "Are you saying you can talk to it and it'll do things?" That seemed a bit outlandish to him.

"I told you it was cool," Bella responded with a laugh as she pointed to the microphone that was taped to the side of the monitor. "Artificial intelligence. Basically the computer guesses what your saying based on all of it's algorithms, and then completes programmed responses. I mean, it's not like it think or anything, just responds as its code dictates." Turning towards a small blank screen off to the side of the main computer, she spoke again. "Hello Twain, you there?"

"You named it…" Charlie stopped as he saw the screen flash on, words filling out as if someone were typing as he read.

'Good evening Ms. Bella.' It spelled out as Charlie gazed dumbfounded at the screen.

"Twain, this is Charlie, my dad." Looking over at him she grinned at the look on his face. "Say hi dad."

"Um…hello…Twain," he stuttered out, feeling a bit foolish.

'Good evening Charlie. It is a pleasure to meet you.' The words scrolled across the screen, and Charlie found himself scratching his face.

"Bells, that's…amazing," he stuttered, looking at his daughter in a new light. "Can it...see me?"

Pointing to the top of the main monitor, she replied, "Yeah, he's got a camera so he can see who's in the room. And he remembers who he sees, so if you come in here again, he'll recognize you. When I get the voice response up, you won't have to read his answers either. He'll be able to speak aloud. And watch this. I got an LCD touch screen," she reached up a hand towards the main monitor as she spoke. Touching the screen it blazed to life, putting up what appeared to be a technical blueprint, though for what, Charlie couldn't guess. "See," Bella continued, "I can manipulate the image, move it around, and look at it just by touching the screen. Eventually I want to get the parts to make an interactive 3D hologram generator for it, but I mean, that's a crazy amount of work. Not a standard piece of equipment at all."

The smaller screen flashed again, calling their attention back. 'This is a list of the materials you must acquire to create a functional 3D hologram generator.' As it finished, the printer on the other side of the desk came to life, spilling out a page with the list of items.

"Wow Bells, that's really something else," Charlie said as he moved to leave the room. "I gotta go shower and clean up, but I'm really impressed with what you've done."

"Thanks dad," Bella said with a smile as she turned back towards the computer.

"One question though. Why did you name it Twain?"

Bella shrugged her shoulders and grinned. "It's an acronym actually. It stands for 'Technology Without An Interesting Name'."

"Ah, I see," Charlie responded as he moved out of the room. "Goodnight Bells."

"Night Dad."

Charlie shut the door behind him, and stood for a minute trying to absorb what he had just seen. With a shake of his head, he moved down the hall to get ready for bed.

***

'I think he was very confused, Ms. Bella.' Twain told her through his readouts after the door had shut.

Laughing, Bella replied, "I think you're right Twain, but just because he doesn't really understand basic computers, let alone the concept of artificial intelligence." As she spoke she grabbed the printout of items that Twain had provided a few minutes before. "Some of this stuff will be very expensive. I might need to get a part time job. I can't keep asking Charlie to buy me all these parts."

'A decent idea Ms. Bella. I am sure he would be pleased with that thoughtfulness.'

"I think so too." Yawning, Bella flicked off the main screen. "I've got to get some sleep Twain. Go ahead and power down for the night."

'Yes Ms. Bella. Good night."

'Good night Twain.'

***

The next morning at school, Bella walked around with a tape recorder, letting it record the sounds of the students around her laughing and talking. It was one idea she had had about giving Twain a voice. Perhaps with a sampling of other voices, he could create a voice for himself based on a composite of other voices. She wasn't sure how it would work, but it was something to try. And so she was sitting at one of the cafeteria tables for first bell just watching everyone around her.

"Bella!" Angela called as she and Eric came up to where she was sitting. "Eric found the coolest thing, we thought you'd be interested!"

"Morning guys," Bella responded with a small smile. "What is it?"

Eric produced a flyer that he had obviously torn out of some magazine and laid it out in front of her. "I found this in one of my technology magazines, and thought of you."

Bella looked over the page, recognizing the corporate logo emblazoned across the top. "Stark Industries..." she said as she looked over the rest of the page.

"Yeah," Eric said as he practically bounced in his seat. "They're holding a kind of technology fair for high school students to show off their skills, and the top prize is a scholarship to study at a top school, and an internship at the Stark Industries headquarters in Los Angeles!"

"Wow, that's definitely pretty interesting." Bella said. Of course she knew about Stark Industries, and Tony Stark himself had recently been all over the headlines. The chance to compete in this type of event could be a lot of fun.

"You should totally go for it Bella!" Angela said as she leaned across the table towards her best friend. "You could definitely win with what you can do now! And just think of the opportunities it would open up for you!"

"Maybe..."


	3. Chapter 3

"Good morning sir," Jarvis said as he switched the bedroom windows overlooking the ocean from opaque to translucent, letting the morning sun shine into the large bedroom. "It's 6 am, 68 degrees outside, with a predicted high of 84 for the day."

A low grumbling came from the figure lying prone on the large bed. "Too early," a groggy voice said as hands pulled the blankets up over his head. Damn it, the sun wasn’t supposed to be this bright on this side of the house at this ungodly hour of the morning. "Switch off."

The annoyingly persistent voice of the AI ignored him, and continued. "May I remind you sir, that your presence was requested at the reception hall this morning for…"

"Pepper can take care of it," Tony interrupted as he flipped over onto his back, already giving up on the idea of more sleep this morning. If Jarvis was already hounding him, he knew trusty Pepper Potts wouldn't be long behind. Sitting up, he ran a hand through his tousled brown hair, pushing errant strands from his eyes. Searching through his computer-like mind, he tracked down the memory of why he was supposed to be getting up so early this morning, and grimaced as the correct information processed in his thoughts. Maybe he could feign illness...

"Yes sir," Jarvis replied, a hint of resignation evident in his voice. He may be a computer, but thanks to Mr. Tony Stark's brilliance, he was much more than just an ordinary calculating machine. And frustration with his creator was one of the first emotions that Jarvis had learned. "Coffee is brewing in the workshop for you when you're ready sir."

That sounded like a good place to start. Pushing the covers aside, Tony stood and stretched as he looked out at the rolling waves of the ocean. His hand instinctively moved to the metal circle over his heart, fingers rubbing gently at the achy skin. He really was not looking forward to today. The high school tech fair that his company was holding had been going on for several days already, and today was the final day. He was due in to be a judge on the finalists, his first appearance at the whole affair, and present the prizes to the lucky winners. He wasn't too optimistic about it, as most of the projects that got entered into these things were simplistic at best. Only rarely was there something that was actually worthy of his attention. Ah well, at least it would just be a few hour, then he wouldn't have to worry about it again for another year.

Making his way downstairs, he headed straight for the coffee pot that was waiting for him. He had just finished downing his first cup and going over a few modifications to the lastest version of the armor when he heard the click-clack of Pepper's heels coming down the stairs. 

"Good morning, Mr. Stark," she said as she pulled open the glass door and made her way into the workshop. As usual, he ignored her, his attention focused on the thruster bank he was currently trying to install on the suit's back. And as usual, she ignored his ignoring of her. "Don't forget, you have a teleconference with the board in New York scheduled in an hour before you need to be at the reception hall. Happy will be here to pick you up in 3 hours." She set a small stack of folders on his desk and turned to watch him working on the suit. "I have the profiles on the finalists in the tech fair for you to look over as well."

"Anything interesting?" Tony asked as he set down his tools and looked over the pieces to make sure everything was secure. His hands ran over the smooth metal, the corner of his lips quirking into a small grin at the feel.

"Maybe, but that's for you to decide when you get there." And despite the futility of her plea, she added anyway, "Please don't be late Tony."

He turned to make some snarky remark about lateness to her, only to see her back as she was leaving the room. For a moment he watched as she disappeared up the stairs. Then with a shrug, he turned back to the monitor showing the power output on the suit modifications he had just finished. If all went the way it should, the new thrusters on the back of the suit should give him a little more stabilization during flight. "How are we looking Jarvis?"

"Power levels are stable sir, the new thrusters have a negligible reduction from the main power supply." Jarvis’ voice responded from the speakers hidden around the room.

"Excellent. Let's get it on the loading deck. We can give it a test run later and see how they work out."

"As you wish sir," Jarvis replied as he directed Dummy and You with the moving of the armor from the workshop table to the loading area.

Leaving the robots to move the parts, Tony picked up the manilla folders Pepper had left and quickly flipped through them. It was the usual expected selection of nerdy high school boys who enjoyed building fighting robots... however, there was a surprise. There was one girl in the group of ten. Interesting.

Refilling his coffee, and taking the folders, Tony headed for his home office upstairs. Time to get the morning's business out of the way.


	4. Chapter 4

When Bella had first seen the large complex that housed the Stark Industries headquarters in Los Angeles, she had been more awed than she would admit. It was certainly very intimidating to come into this place knowing that the most brilliant minds in the technological field were housed there, and it seemed kind of naive to expect any project a high school student could come up with would be able to compete with the wonders they worked there everyday. And so it wasn't with high hopes that she had begun setting up her computer and display materials in the area designated for her in the large auditorium. But after three days of various judges and spectators wandering through and inspecting the hundreds of projects on display, and countless renditions of her prepared explanation speech, Bella was feeling a little more sure of herself. After all, she had made it to the finals, with only nine other competitors.

But now her nerves were returning in full force. Today was the day that the man himself, Tony Stark, would be there to see the final presentations. Of course she knew about Tony Stark, everyone in the world had seen him all over the news as of late, especially since his infamous press conference when he told the world he was the superhero known as Iron Man. And so Bella waited with the other finalists and audiences, for him to arrive. She kept going over and over again her computer set up, making sure everything was perfect. If she didn't know he was incapable of emotions, she would swear that Twain was starting to get annoyed with her constantly going over connections and codings and such.

"Everything is properly set up Ms. Bella," the soft voice from the computer speakers assured her. In the final days before leaving for Los Angeles, she had finally gotten Twain's voice response coding finished, and he spoke in a soft voice with a hint of an accent that she couldn't quite place, the result of combining the sounds and inflections of several people into one voice. If she thought about it, and she tried not to, it actually kind of reminded her of Carlisle's gentle voice.

"I know Twain, I'm just a little...anxious. It needs to be perfect today." Bella was distracted from her setup by a sudden eruption of applause, and she turned her head towards the main entrance. While she couldn't see much of anything over the heads of everyone crowded about, she assumed from the response that Mr. Stark had just arrived. And as the procession slowly made it's way past the displays and towards the main stage, Bella was finally able to catch a glimpse of him. She was immediately struck by him, and couldn't say exactly why. She had seen pictures of him all over the place, but he was so much more handsome in real life. And the air of confidence he had about him, the swagger of his walk, the small smirk that seemed permanently set on his lips, seemed to only intensify the attraction he held. Her stomach did a flip when she suddenly realized that she was going to have to talk face to face with him, and explain her suddenly insignificant seeming project. Not to mention the idea of having to explain any techno thing to him seemed utterly ridiculous.

She watched as Stark made his way to the center of the main stage, seeming perfectly at ease in front of such a large crowd. As he approached the microphone, the assemblage quieted. "Welcome everyone," he began after a moment, "to the final day of the Stark Industries High School Technology Fair.” He paused for a moment as the audience applauded enthusiastically. “I would like to say thank you to all the students who participated this year, and to their friends and family who came to support them. It is always a great event for us here to encourage the growth and imagination of the engineers of tomorrow. The students who come here from all over the country to showcase their ideas are our future, and we at Stark Industries are honored to support them." The audience burst into applause as he stepped back from the podium, giving a slight nod of his head in acknowledgement.

Bella lost sight of him as he stepped off the stage among the group of fellow judges. Then the emcee stepped up and announced that the judging group would move down the line of finalists, allowing for a 20 minute presentation from each participant. The students had drawn numbers earlier in the morning to determine their order, and Bella was a bit relieved when she ended up as eighth out of the ten. It would give her more time to prepare herself and get her nerves under control. Turning back to her setup, she began going over everything once again.

***

"Ms. Isabella Swan, a senior from Forks High School in Forks, Washington," the announcer said in introduction as the group of judges approached her display. Tony glanced over the young lady. She was quite pretty, though young, and seemed just a little bit nervous. So he put on his most charming smile and stepped forward.

"Isabella," Tony said as he extended his hand to her. "a pleasure to meet you."

The girl returned his handshake with a nervous smile. "Just Bella please. And it's an honor to meet you Mr. Stark."

"Well Bella, let's see what you have for us today." Tony watched as the girl moved to stand next to her table, which held what appeared to be a modified desktop computer attached to an open sided container about the size of a small television set. He gave her his full attention as she began explaining her system to them.

"What I have done here," Bella said, "is used a desktop computer that I modified and wrote new coding for to create an interactive, three dimensional hologram." As she spoke, the lights on the computer flashed on as it began working, and within a moment, a small spherical object appeared inside the open container, seeming to float in mid-air. Reaching her hand into the box, she moved her fingers around the ball, and it spun and turned with her movements. "While there is no actual physical contact, seeing as how the object itself is nothing more than a light projection, motion sensors on the sides and top of the system track the movement of my hands, and convert it into movements of the image."

Tony looked over the girl with a new perspective. If this high school girl could create a system similar to, though not quite as advanced as, his own holographic interface using a modified desktop...  
Bella removed her hand from the image of the ball, and it faded out, replaced by a more complex image that appeared to be blueprints for a building. "As far as practical applications, there are many instances where such technology could be used. My example here is of building construction. Using this setup, an architect can create, alter, and view plans for a building easier than on paper, or even a two dimensional computer generated image. Again, she moved her hand into the holographic space, turning the image to show the full 3D view of the building it depicted, and showing how individual elements of the image could be moved or deleted with simple gestures.

"And did you build this set up yourself, Bella?" Tony asked the girl as she glanced up at her audience.

"Yes sir, with a little bit of help from Twain," she replied.

"Twain?"

"Yes sir, Twain is my computer." She gestured towards the system controlling the holographic display. "I built and created the coding for him. He is a voice and video interactive artificial intelligence system. But he's not part of the project I entered into the fair. He's..." she paused for a brief moment. "He's my friend."

Tony eyed the girl for a moment, wondering if she was serious. This was beyond anything he would have expected to see that afternoon. "Ah, I see," he said. "Well Ms. Swan, I would certainly be interested in discussing your friend with you another time then." He flashed a smile at her. "Have you anything further for your presentation?"

Bella responded to his smile with a shy grin of her own. "No sir, thank you for your time and consideration of my project."

"Thank you Bella, for a very interesting demonstration."

The announcer stepped forward, moving to guide the group of judges to the next display table. As they stepped away, Tony glanced over his shoulder at the young lady once again, catching her eyes and giving her a slight wink. Her cheeks turned instantly pink, and she quickly turned away, towards her computer. Definitely interesting...

An hour and a half later, the auditorium was filled with eager faces as the judges returned from their deliberations. The crowd hushed and the final ten students held their breaths as Tony Stark approached the podium. "Congratulations to all of our participants today," he said as he eyed the group of teenagers sitting in the front row of seating. "All of your projects and ideas are noteworthy and impressive. However, there can be only one winner. And so I am pleased to announce this year's winner of the Stark Industries High School Tech Fair, and recipient of a scholarship to technical school and the chance to intern with us here at Stark Industries. Congratulations to our winner..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember: Reviews are an author's bread and butter!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize these chapters are very short. As I said before, I wrote this 10 years ago, when I was still learning creative writing. I decided not to combine to make longer chapters, and instead preserve the original chapter separation.

Bella stood in her room at Charlie's house, looking around her. It was odd to her how the place she had dreaded coming to just about a year ago had managed to become what came to mind when she thought of home. And it was with a kind of sadness that she had started packing up her bags once again. Granted it was only for a few months that she would be away, but it still felt like leaving her home all over again. It was scary in a way. But considering the reason she was leaving, it was a little bit easier, though not in any way less frightening for her.

"Hey Bells, you just about ready?" Charlie asked as he popped his head in the door.

"Yeah dad," she replied as she zipped up the suitcase she had been packing with the scant remainder of her warm weather clothing. She would have to get Renee to send some of her clothing from Phoenix. Either that, or do some shopping. Her Forks wardrobe would not work for a summer in Los Angeles. Looking around herself one more time to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything crucial, she began to think that this time away from Forks would be good for her in more ways than one.

"Things will sure be different without you around," Charlie said as he helped her take her few bags downstairs to the waiting cruiser. "You sure you'll be alright by yourself in the big city?"

"I'll be fine dad. Besides, I won't really be by myself." Actually, she'd be moving into a small apartment in the Stark Headquarters complex that was for out-of-town company visitors. The complex was like a small city unto itself. She wouldn't really even need to leave the grounds for anything, unless she wanted to do touristy stuff, which she wasn't big on anyway.

"I'm really proud of you Bells," Charlie said as he started up the cruiser and began their drive to the airport at Port Angeles. "This is a great chance for you to really find your way and decide what you want to do with your life. I'm sure you'll do great."

"Thanks dad," Bella said as she watched the woods flash past the window of the cruiser. From Port Angeles, she'd catch a short flight up to Seattle, then a slightly longer flight down to Los Angeles where someone would be waiting to pick her up and take her to her home for the summer. And on Monday she started her very first day as an intern for the biggest technology company in the world. Definitely a little intimidating. But she had most certainly faced scarier situations than moving to a big metropolis and starting a new job.

***

As she stepped out of the airport terminal with her bags slung over her shoulder, Bella glanced around her at the throngs of people milling about and finding their way through the massive airport. Then she caught sight of a stocky man in a suit holding a card with her name on it. Making her way towards him, she smiled hesitantly. "I'm Bella Swan," she said as she reached him.

"A pleasure, Ms. Swan," the man said with a grin as he folded the card and put it in one of the suit's pockets. "Welcome to Los Angeles. Do you have any other bags you would like me to take for you?" he asked, eyeing her two small bags.

"Afraid not. This is it for now," she replied with a shrug of her shoulders, declining his offer to help with the bags she had.

"Alright. If you'll just follow me, the car is right out front." Turning, he led her out of the terminal and into the summer California sun. He guided her to a fancy black car, obviously very expensive. A Rolls Royce if she wasn't mistaken, though her knowledge of cars wasn't quite up to par. Taking her bags and putting them in the trunk, he held open the back door of the car for her. When she slid across the dark leather seats into the air conditioning, she realized she wasn't the only passenger. Sitting in the seat across from her was Tony Stark himself.

"Mr. Stark!" she exclaimed in surprise, taken off guard by his presence. Regaining her composure, she offered him a small smile. "A pleasure to see you again sir."

"And you as well Bella," he replied as the car began to pull out of the airport. "And you can feel free to call me Tony. I'm an informal kind of guy. I thought I'd tag along to make sure you got properly settled in your apartment."

"That's very kind of you sir...Tony," Bella said as she turned her head to watch the city fly by them, and to hide the flush of pink that colored her cheeks. Her tendency to blush easily was really quite annoying.

"It's nothing," he replied with a wave of his hand. "How was your flight down?"

"Just fine," Bella said. "Thank you. Though I could use something to eat. I haven't eaten anything since breakfast early this morning. Think we could pull through a drive-thru?"

"Say no more," Tony said with a cocky grin. "We'll drop off your luggage at the apartment, and give you a moment to settle, then I'll treat you to dinner. A welcome gesture for your first night."

"Sounds great." Dinner with Tony? Bella wasn't sure if she'd survive the night.


	6. Chapter 6

Bella sat with her face hidden behind the menu of the restaurant, feigning indecision. In reality, she was attempting to shield herself until the flush in her cheeks died down. She was sitting in one of the fanciest restaurants she had ever been in, across from one of the most intriguing men she had ever met. A man who was currently watching her with that damned smirk that seemed to never leave his lips. How did she always manage to end up at awkward dinners with men way out of her league? Eventually the waiter returned, and she had to give up her shield. Trying for an indifferent expression, she set the menu down and ordered the simplest pasta dish she could find, along with a side salad.

"So Bella," Tony said, forcing her to look up at him. "Are you looking forward to your time here in Los Angeles?"

"Yes, of course," Bella said, her hands fidgeting under the table. "I'm very grateful for the chance to study and learn more about the technological field."

"Yes, or course," he repeated, mimicking her tone of voice. When she glared at him, he simply chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "Relax," he said. "You're so tense, you look like you're made of concrete."

"I'm sorry," Bella said with a smile. "I guess I'm just kinda nervous. I'm not really used to this."

"Dinner?"

"You know what I mean," she responded as she laughed.

"Ah, there we go! She laughs." Tony said as he took a sip of the scotch he had ordered. "Now that we've cracked your shell a little bit Bella, we can really get dirty." Bella's cheeks flared red again, and she turned her face downward. "Now that is amusing," Tony said as he laughed. "You really flush easily,don't you?" When Bella didn't respond, he continued anyway. "Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself."

After composing herself (again!) Bella took a drink of her soda and turned back to him. "There's not really much to tell," she said. "I just finished my senior year of high school. I live with my dad, who's chief of police back home. My mom and stepdad live down in Florida. And I build computers for fun."

"And do quite a job of it, from what I've seen so far," Tony replied. "And of course, that's why you're here!" He swept his arms out to the side, as if encompassing the whole of the city in his grasp. "I'm very interested to talk with you a little more in detail about your computer actually. I was very intrigued when you mentioned that your system is an artificial intelligence. How did you develop your programming for it?"

"For Twain? Well...I did a lot of reading, kinda self taught myself how to write programs, took some coding classes at the city library. And I spent just about all my free time on it. You're more than welcome to look over my coding. I would be honored to get your input, Mr. Stark...Tony," she amended after a mocking glare from the man across the table.

"You taught yourself? That's pretty impressive stuff to learn for someone your age."

"I was surprised that I was able to catch on to it as easily as I did. But I really enjoy it." Bella’s smile was genuine as she thought about all the hard work she had put into her new hobby. And now it seemed as if it might become her career, not just a hobby.

"Well, that's what really counts. I look forward to seeing how well you fare at Stark Industries. Someone with your creativity should fit in very well." Tony took another sip of his scotch, and Bella found herself taking a moment to really study him. The man was really very handsome, and much easier to talk to than she would have imagined.

The conversation at that point became a little more sparse as their dinner arrived. As they ate, Bella continued to answer random questions that Tony threw at her about her particular interests in the tech field, or how she solved certain programming problems, or some other such questions. The longer they talked, the more comfortable Bella began to feel around him, and she soon found herself smiling and laughing openly at his witty humor, and responding shyly to his smiles and flirtatious comments.

By the time that dinner was finished, and they were sitting in the car on their way back to Bella's apartment, she felt more at ease with her new boss. Friendly, even. The imposing image she had had of him at first had died down, and she felt like she had a little better idea of what Tony was like in reality.

***

Tony found he was actually really enjoying the company of this young girl that he had the fortune of meeting. She was more mature than her 18 years would suggest, and when he was finally able to draw her out of her discomfort, she was very pleasant company. And wicked smart to boot. He was definitely very interested to see what she could do with the resources he could offer her at Stark Industries.  
They were chatting pleasantly in the car while Happy was driving them back to the complex when he felt a tightness in his chest that he had begun to recognize as problems with the reactor that was keeping him alive. It was a problem he was looking into, but had come up short on so far. His discomfort must have shown on his face, because Bella stopped talking, and was looking at him with a concerned expression.

"Are you alright, Tony?" Bella asked, leaning towards him slightly.

He tried to play it off with a lopsided grin and a shrug of his shoulders. "It's nothing, just an old injury that's acting up." Unfortunately his nonchalance was belied by the fact that his body jerked suddenly, and he slumped over as he felt the reactor begin to give out.

"Tony!" Bella cried as she moved across the seat to him, helping him lean back in the seat. "Mr. Hogan," she cried out to the driver in the front seat, "something's wrong with Tony!"

Tony mumbled something, and Bella leaned closer to him, to try and make out his words. "Home," he said again, trying to make himself understood. "Need to get to my workshop..."

"Boss?" he heard Happy from the front seat.

"He said he needs to get to his workshop," Bella said to Happy, and Tony felt the speed in the car pick up as Happy began weaving quickly through the traffic.

"Be there in 10 minutes," Happy said as he raced down the road.

***

Bella was doing her best not to panic. What had been a surprisingly fun evening had suddenly turned very serious. She wasn't sure what was wrong with Tony, but she could tell he was in pretty bad shape. And it had happened so suddenly. As they raced down the winding highway along the coast towards his home, Bella did the best she could to keep him awake and aware. He kept mumbling something, but she wasn't able to make it all out. Something about reactors and cores and replacing something. She had expressed the thought that they should be taking him to a hospital, but she was overruled by both driver and sick man.

After what seemed like ages, they pulled off the highway and were racing up a cliffside road towards one of the biggest houses Bella had ever seen.

"We're almost there Tony, hang on just a little longer," she said to the man leaning heavily against her shoulder. He mumbled something again, but Bella didn't hear him. Finally they pulled to a stop in front of the house, and Happy jumped out of the car, racing around to help Bella get Tony out of the car and into the house. Luckily Happy seemed to know where they needed to go, and he guided them through the house and down a curved staircase.

"Jarvis! We need some help here," Happy called as they passed through a glass door and into the main workshop. If she had been paying attention, Bella would have been impressed by the room they had ended up in, but at the moment her entire concern was focused on the man she was helping into a chair by a large desk. She wondered for a moment who Happy was talking to, but then she heard a soft, accented voice from nearby.

"What happened?" Jarvis (presumably) asked, as Bella leaned Tony back in the chair.

"He said something about replacing a reactor or something like that?" Bella responded as she looked around for the body attached to the voice. She found no one, but didn't think about it, as Tony raised a shaky arm to point towards a wooden box sitting on the other end of the desk. Grabbing it up, she opened it and found what looked like several pieces of a silverish metal encased in protecting foam. She carefully took one out and turned back to Tony.

She nearly dropped the square of metal when she saw him. He had pulled open his shirt to reveal a large metal disc implanted in his chest. As she watched, he twisted it and pulled it out, leaving a hole large enough to fit her whole hand inside. As he pulled it out, she noticed the piece he had removed was smoking, and a piece of rusted and burnt looking metal protruded from the backside. He pulled it out and threw it down onto the desk, and reached for the piece she was holding. When she handed it over to him, he put it in the vacant spot, and watched as it was drawn inside. Then he pushed the disc back into the hole in his chest, twisting it back into place with a soft click.

Whatever it was, it seemed to do the trick, as Tony gave a gasp and a cough, then straightened up in the chair.

"What in the hell was that?" Bella asked as she stared down at him.


	7. Interlude

The sun had just sunk under the horizon, the lights of the big city illuminating the night sky like millions of stars. Throngs of people still filled the sidewalks in the lingering summer day's heat, and cars still crowded the busy streets. A lone figure slipped between the groups of people, drawing as little attention to himself as possible. It had been some time since he had been in a city as large as Los Angeles, and it was more uncomfortable than he'd like to admit to be surrounded by people again. But the trail had led him here, and he was dedicated to following it until he reached its source.

It had been almost a year ago that Edward had made the decision for his family to leave their home. And he hadn't even stayed with them after they had made the move from Forks to Denali. He had stayed long enough to greet their friends in Alaska, then he had left his family behind and wandered. At first it had been aimless. Simply moving constantly from place to place. Running from his feelings, from the pain, from the hole in his heart where she had once been. But then he had come across a familiar scent when passing through a small town down south. It had been the woman named Victoria...the mate of the vampire that had tried to kill Bella last spring. And so he decided to try his hand at tracking. For the last few months he had been following her. From the southern United States, all the way down to Brazil, and now she was headed back north. Every once in a while, he'd lose her for a few days, and then he would pick her up again. But when he followed her scent into Los Angeles, he lost her. He'd been wandering the city for a few days now, trying to pick up the scent again. It seemed she had evaded him pretty well this time.

As he lingered on a street corner, he caught glimpses of himself in the minds of a group of young girls a few shops down from him. They thought he was cute, interesting, and maybe they could go and talk to him. They held no interest for him however. He didn't think anyone would again. Turning away from them, he moved down a side street, keeping to human speed to avoid being noticed, but moving quickly enough that the group of girls quickly lost sight of him, and moved on with their night without another thought towards him.

As he moved through the heart of the city, he was suddenly caught off guard by a hauntingly familiar smell. Only it wasn't the one he had been searching for. It assailed his senses and drove every other thought from his mind. It was coming from a restaurant on the other side of the street. But it was a few hours old. He warred with himself, trying to decide whether or not to follow it. It would be glorious to see her again, but he had left her behind for a reason. He wanted her to move on, to live a normal life, to be safe. Safe...Victoria had been in the city. Could she have picked up on the scent as well? That was all it took to make the decision for him. The only problem now was which way to follow the scent. It went off in separate directions from the restaurant...one coming, and one going. Only he didn't know which was which. Making a choice and taking a chance, he allowed the scent to fill his senses, and followed it out of the city.


	8. Chapter 8

"What in the hell was that?" Bella sat on the edge of the desk, her arms folded across her chest as she stared down at Tony sitting in the chair in front of her. She had just witnessed what seemed to her to be quite a serious attack of some sort, though now he seemed perfectly fine and back to his normal self. He gestured to Happy to head on upstairs, and the stocky man nodded before making his way up the curving staircase.

"It was nothing," he responded as he picked up the discarded piece he had removed from the reactor in his chest. The eroded metal core was still lightly smoking. He looked at it for a moment before tossing it in a waste bin next to the desk.

"Yeah, right. It sure didn't seem like nothing. You just had a piece of smoking metal stuck in a giant hole in your chest." Hell, the man had seemingly almost died right in front of her. No way was she going to let this go without an explanation. Not after he had scared her like that. And if there was one thing Bella Swan was, it was stubborn. "Tell me the truth Tony," she said as she put on her most menacing expression, which was usually not too effective in any circumstance. And Tony seemed to think so as well. He shrugged his shoulders and pushed away from the desk, standing up.

"Just a technological hiccup that Jarvis and I have been working on. It really is nothing to worry yourself over Bella." Tony moved around the workbench, fidgeting with a few of the items strewn about the worktop.

Bella was confused for just a moment. Happy had called out to someone named Jarvis when they had first come in, and there had been a response, though Bella hadn't seen anyone around. "And who is Jarvis?" she asked as she watched him.

"Jarvis, this is Bella Swan," Tony said aloud, and Bella looked around the room to see the mystery man. But she found no one. And then she nearly jumped when she heard the gentle accented voice from before issuing from a hidden speaker somewhere just to the right of her..

"Good evening Ms. Swan," Jarvis said, and Bella looked at Tony with a raised eyebrow.

"Jarvis is a computer system. My own AI program," he said with a chuckle. "Just A Really Very Intelligent System."

"Just a really...Oh I see!" Bella said with a laugh. "J.A.R.V.I.S. An acronym. It's a pleasure to meet you Jarvis," she said.

"The pleasure is mine," Jarvis replied. "And may I offer my congratulations on your win at the technology fair."

"Thank you," she said. Pushing off of her spot against the desk, she took a moment to really look at the room around her. It seemed like something right out of the movies. The majority of the workshop was set up like a high tech computer lab, with robotic arms, transparent screens, and some kind of projection table that, if she wasn't mistaken, was a holographic imager. There was also an area set up like a small living room, and another part filled with several expensive looking sports cars, one with the engine half torn apart and obviously an ongoing project. And then one wall of the room caught and held her eye, and she might have sworn that her jaw dropped. Lined up against the far wall of the room, in seperate little alcoves, were four different versions of the armored suit that had made headlines in the last few months.

Tony caught her obvious gaze, and smirked at her as he took her hand and drew her closer to that far wall. Showing off the Iron Man armor was certainly one of the best ways to distract someone from an unwanted line of questioning. "It's alright if you want to take a closer look."

It was clear from looking at the suits, that they showed the evolution of the armor from a very basic and bulky model, to the more refined and polished looking suit on the opposite end. It was the last suit, the one familiar to her from the news broadcasts, that she walked closer to, the red and gold of the metal gleaming in the soft light of the room. "These are amazing Tony," she said as she reached her hand out and very delicately touched the cool surface of the metal. "You designed these all yourself?"

"Yeah...well, with Jarvis' help of course." As Bella sat staring at the suit, Tony moved towards the loading deck next to the display hall, tapping a few keys on the touch screen nearby. With an electronic whirring, the robotic arms began to move, assembling the newly modified armor in freestanding mode on the platform. The noise alerted Bella's attention, and she turned with a look of absolute wonderment in her eyes as she watched Jarvis put together the suit in front of her. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Definitely," Bella responded as she moved closer to the loading deck. "I'd say it's right at the top of the list of coolest things I've ever seen."

***

Edward followed the intoxicating scent that he had picked up all the way out of the city and into the hills of Malibu. He was still puzzling over what might have brought Bella down here, though after nearly a year, he knew there would be changes in her life. He finally found himself standing outside the grounds of an ornate mansion, perched on a cliff directly over the ocean. It was quite a different environment than he ever imagined he would find Bella in, but he couldn't deny his own senses. Closing his eyes and opening his other senses, he listened to the sounds around him. He could hear the presence of three people in the house. And then he heard voices coming down from the house. An electronic voice coming from a television...a deeper voice laughing at something on the show.

_"I should probably have Happy take you back home now,"_ a voice said from the lower part of the house.

_"Yeah, probably...it's getting late."_ Her voice. Edward felt a fluttering of emotions in his dead heart as he heard her speak again. Whatever resolve he had formed to stay away from her disappeared at that moment, and he knew he had to see her again, to speak to her again. But he would prefer to wait until he could speak with her privately. And so he settled himself into the shadows, waiting for her to leave this house, and he would follow her back to her home.

***

Tony watched as Bella made her way up the curving staircase towards the main part of the house. Before she disappeared from sight, she turned and caught his eye, giving him a little wave. He felt his lips twitch slightly, and he returned the wave before turning back to his workshop. "I like her," he said to no one in particular.

"Of course you do, sir," Jarvis replied.


	9. Chapter 9

Bella stood in the darkened bedroom of her apartment, looking about herself in an almost confused manner. It was the first place she'd ever lived by herself, and while she was used to quite a bit of freedom and independence when she lived with Charlie, this was different. This was her place, for the summer at least. And the excitement and unexpected drama of her first day of living in the city had thrown her somewhat. Deciding a hot shower and then bed were the best idea right now, she grabbed the backpack containing her bathroom items and her pajamas, and made her way to the bathing room.

The hot shower helped calm her a bit, it always did, and she stood afterwards looking at herself in the mirror as she towelled her hair dry. She found her thoughts drifting back to the evening she had spent with Mr. Stark...Tony. A tiny smile crept onto her lips as she thought of him, and it startled her for a moment to see it in her reflection. While it wasn't as immediate as her love of...of Edward, she forced the name in her thoughts, it felt like just as strong as an emotion. She caught her thoughts and berated herself. There was no way she could be falling in love with Tony Stark. It was just a schoolgirl crush, like a teeny bopper ogling over a rock star...or so she tried to tell herself. But she couldn't deny that after she had allowed herself to relax a little, she had really enjoyed the evening with him. Especially the part where she got the chance to look around his private workshop. And those armor suits...amazing. But what had happened to him tonight? He had brushed off his temporary disability as nothing big, but it didn't seem that way to her. She had seen the slightly panicked look, and the worry behind it, in his eyes.

Sighing, she pulled on her pajamas, turned off the lights, and made her way towards the large bed that was the centerpiece of the bedroom. She set the alarm to wake her at a decent hour, she settled into the bed and stared up at the darkened ceiling above her head. So many thoughts were swirling through her head that she doubted sleep would come any time soon.

***

Edward followed the car that Bella had ridden in all the way back down into the city, and watched as it pulled into the secured complex that was the headquarters of Stark Industries. For the millionth time he wondered to himself what she was doing here. It was a small matter for him to climb over the wall surrounding the group of buildings, and make his way through the shadows to find where the car had taken her. It seemed to be a small apartment unit on the edge of the area that she had gone to, as that was where the car was pulling out of when he caught sight of it again. Slipping through the darkness, he approached the building and followed his senses to what was the corner unit of the grouping. There were no lights on, but he could hear the heartbeat and steady breathing that told him someone was within. And the scent was unmistakable.

For a few long minutes he fought with himself on whether or not he should approach her, or just watch from a distance and make sure she was safe. How would she react to his presence? Had the long months apart driven him from her heart as he kept telling himself was best? Would she be angry with him for reappearing so suddenly when she was obviously moving on, or would she welcome him back into her life and forgive him for the rash actions that caused him to leave her so suddenly and so hurtfully?

No, he would have to keep his resolve to not interfere with her life anymore, at least directly. But he would keep watch over her for now, while there was still a chance that she was in danger from Victoria. This threat had been put upon her because of him, and he would make sure she was kept safe no matter what. And so he settled into the shadows to watch over her.

***

Bella found herself in an unfamiliar room, the walls and furnishing all white and blending into each other, giving her no distinct evidence of where she was standing. "Hello?" She called out as she looked about, trying to find some sign as to where she was, or how she had gotten there. She felt more than heard a movement behind her, and she started to turn to try and discover who was there with her.

"Bella," Tony whispered hotly against her ear as his arms wrapped around her, pulling her close against his body. She turned in his arms, his lips ghosting over her forehead and across her cheek before pressing softly against her own, drawing a quiet moan from her as she responded to his touch. It had been so long, and he was so warm and solid against her as she pressed herself up into his arms, her hands resting against his shoulders as her eyes fluttered closed. She felt his hands sliding down her back to grasp her waist, holding her close as he deepened the kiss, the soft touch of his tongue brushing across her lips before pressing deeper. Somewhere deep inside of her, Bella felt a heat begin to rise up and consume her like fire.

"Oh yes Tony," she breathed when his lips released hers, her head falling to rest against the side of his neck. She inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of him, a sweet musky smell that left her feeling intoxicated. In that moment, she couldn't recall ever feeling this way before, and she didn't want to lose that feeling. And so she clung to him with all the strength she possessed, and thrilled to find that he was holding her just as tightly, his hands slipping beneath the thin cotton of her pajama top to brush lightly across her lower back and sides.

"So beautiful," he whispered against her ear once again, lips and tongue playing along the sensitive spot as she shivered at the attentions. "Open up to me Bella," he said, his fingers trailing along her sides and across her stomach. Her head began to spin as she felt herself falling, and she found herself laying upon silken white fabric with Tony beside her, his hands never losing contact with her heated skin. Finding the courage from somewhere within, Bella began to explore with her hands as well, brushing across his shoulders and down his arms, feeling the hard muscles underneath his skin. It felt so good to touch and be touched, and she wanted more of it, she hungered for it in a way she couldn't explain.

A soft gasp escaped her as she felt his hand move higher, his fingers brushing against her chest, and she found herself grasping his wrist and pressing his hand more firmly against her. "Please Tony," she breathed, turning her head up to search for his lips once more. A shift against her, and he caught her questing lips again, stealing her breath away in a passionate play of lips and tongue. She could feel the full, hard lean length of him against her, and she pressed her body against his, wanting to feel him completely.

His wandering hands skimmed along the waistband of her pajama bottoms, and she moaned a quiet encouragement to him, her heart pounding as she felt his fingers dip beneath the elastic band and tease the sensitive skin they found there. Her own fingers twisted into the soft fabric of his shirt as she poured her heart into the searing heat of his kiss. But even as she held onto him. she felt him slipping away from her, and she grasped desperately at anything she found under her hands, trying to draw him back to her.

Bella gasped as her eyes flew open to see a darkened room around her, her hands fisted in the blankets at her side. For a frightening moment she was so disoriented by her strange surroundings that she nearly flew into a panic, but then she slowly calmed down as she remembered the events of the day. The images in her dream still burned hotly in her mind, and she felt the ghost of a kiss that hadn't actually happened flutter across her lips. _Just a dream,_ she told herself in the darkness. A dream that had felt so breathtakingly real. She knew she was lost.


	10. Chapter 10

The alarm went off with the annoying buzz that told her it was time to start her day. Monday...the first official day of her internship. Her hand landed somewhere in the vicinity of the alarm, and after a moment of fumbling around, she managed to shut off the blasted noise. Another night of dreams...why couldn't she get those thoughts out of her head? She hadn't even seen him all weekend, but he continued to consume her thoughts.

She had tried to change the course of her mind over the weekend. She had spent Saturday morning getting Twain and all of his peripherals set up in the apartment, and most of the rest of the day working on his programs and codings, tweaking with them the way she always did when she had nothing else to do. Or was trying to think of nothing else for that matter. And then Sunday had been spent in a necessary excursion into the city to supplement her wardrobe with suitable clothing for work. Luckily she had received an unexpected parting gift collaborated on by Charlie and Renee of a decent amount of funding for new clothes.

Finally, she managed to roll herself out of the bed, stretching in the morning sun that filtered through the curtained windows. A quick shower and her usual morning routines, and a half hour later she was drinking a cup of tea and glancing over the map of the Stark complex, trying to memorize her way around the areas she would have to find in just a little while. It seemed that the main building alone was three or four times the size of even the large high school she had attended in Phoenix. She was just folding up the page to place in her shoulder bag when she heard a knock on the door. Confused, she made her way over and opened the door, her breath catching slightly as she looked out.

"Good morning Bella," Tony said as she looked at him with a slightly dumbfounded expression on her face. He was looking quite handsome in an exquisitely cut suit, and she found herself stumbling slightly over her words, flashes of him from her dreams racing through her mind, causing the blood to rush to her face.

"Um...oh yes, good morning Tony," she finally managed to get out, wishing she had left her hair down to hide the flush in her cheeks, instead of pulling it back into a ponytail.

If he noticed the redness in her face, or her momentary lack of speaking skills, he didn't mention it. He merely gazed down at her with the usual smirk. "I thought you might need a little help finding your way around on your first morning. Figured I'd give you a tour."

"You really don't have to," she said. "I'm sure you have much more important things to do than show an intern around." Tearing her eyes from his face, she turned away from the door, moving back into the main room of the apartment to gather up her things. She heard the door click shut behind her, and she closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing as best she could.

"But not nearly as interesting," he said from somewhere near the door. "Pepper handles most of the important stuff anyway. She can always find me when something needs signing."

"Pepper? Oh, Ms. Potts." Bella had met Ms. Potts after her win at the tech fair, sitting with her and Charlie for a small amount of time to go over all the details of her 'prize'. "Twain, where did I put my cell phone down?" She couldn't find it in her bag, and it wasn't in sight anywhere she could see.

"It fell off the nightstand onto the floor in the bedroom," the soft voice said from a speaker set on the desk next to the main system.

"Oh, thanks," she said. Looking back at Tony, she saw him watching her, one eyebrow quirked upward. "Oh, Tony, that's Twain. I think I told you about him before."

"You did mention him, yes." Tony answered. "Good morning Twain. How are you?"

"Good morning Mr. Stark. I am functioning within normal parameters, thank you." Bella stifled a chuckle at Twain's response. As a machine, he had no emotions to speak of, and his answer was as computer as it got. Quickly, she moved back into the bedroom, finding her phone on the floor next to the nightstand. She had probably knocked it off when fumbling for the alarm clock. When she returned to the main room, she decided she really didn't have much of a choice but to take Tony up on his offer of a tour. She was excited and frightened of the thought of spending more time with him. Not an unknown feeling for her.

"Alright," she said as she shouldered her bag. "I'm ready to go."

"Then let's be off," Tony said, pulling open the door for her.

***

A few hours later, Bella found herself almost completely overwhelmed by all that surrounded her. After giving her quite a tour of the facility, Tony had to run off to some meeting, leaving Bella in the charge of Dr. Riva, the head of the computer lab. Currently he was letting her watch over his shoulder while he worked on a project that involved nano technology for use in medical research, explaining to her what they were trying to accomplish. She couldn't understand everything he was talking about, but she got the gist of what he was saying. However, she was a bit relieved when he shut down his machinery and announced that it was time to break for lunch. Her head was filled with the information she was trying to process, and she moved to the small desk she'd been given in the office, pulling out a notebook and pen and jotting down her thoughts.

The rest of the day went pretty much the same as her morning had, and by the time everyone was ready to go home for the night, Bella felt she was starting to kind of get the hang of the work. She wasn't nearly as advanced as they were, but she felt that if she put her mind to it and really worked at it, she would be able to get into the work just as easily as they seemed to. As she was packing up her bag and saying goodnight to the technicians, she saw Dr. Riva talking to Tony by the door. A smile tipped up the corners of her lips as she entertained the thought that he might be as interested in her as she was in him.

"Hey Tony," she said as she walked up to him, starting to feel much more at ease in talking to him. For a moment she was worried that something was wrong, because he seemed upset, but when he turned his eyes to her, the expression on his face changed, and his mood seemed to lighten.

"Hey. How was your day?" Tony asked.

"Exhilarating," she replied. "I've so much to learn, I don't even know where to start."

"She did great Mr. Stark," Dr. Riva said with a smile for Bella. "She's got a lot of potential, that's for sure." He gave a wave and a nod to the two of them before turning towards the door. "I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight Bella, Mr. Stark."

They responded in kind, and after he had left, Tony turned back towards Bella. "Have dinner with me?"

"Again? You can't keep taking me out to dinner Tony, I might get the wrong idea," she responded with a laugh.

"Maybe," he said with a laugh. "I was thinking take out at your place, and you could show me more about your Twain. Maybe work on developing your programming a little. I do have a little knowledge in the area as well, you know."

"So I've heard," Bella laughed as they began making their way across the complex. What was it about him that managed to bring out so much life in her, she wondered. She couldn't remember smiling and laughing as much as she had of late in quite a long while. Whatever it was, she would take it while she could. It felt so good to have those feelings again. The feeling of...of being alive.

***

The sun was still shimmering slightly in the sky, causing Edward to have to keep to the dark shadows cast by the buildings and landscaping around him, and severely limiting his movements. But he was able to catch glimpses of Bella as she moved across the wide expanse of land that separated the main building from the smaller outlying structures. Seeing the smile on her face, and the way her eyes sparkled as she looked at the man with her, he felt a confusing mixture of emotion. He was glad that she seemed to have found happiness in her life, but he was also saddened that it was a happiness that didn't include him.

He followed from a distance, skipping easily from shadow to shadow to keep her in sight, while remaining hidden himself. But when he neared the area where she was staying, he halted and stiffened. A breeze had brought a new scent with it, and he was immediately on alert. It was a few hours old, but it was there. She had been there. He scanned the area with his mind, searching for the buzz of her thoughts, but it seemed she was no longer in the area. But his fears had been confirmed. Victoria had found Bella in the city, and was following her. Should he follow the trace of her scent? No. She could return here before he caught up with her. No doubt she had discerned his own presence in the area, and was planning her own moves carefully. He would wait for her to return.

***

They had ended up ordering Thai take-out, eating directly from the delivery containers as they sat in front of the computer desk Bella had set up over the weekend. Bella's eyes were starting to blur over slightly from staring at the screens, but she didn't feel like stopping. She was enjoying herself too much. Tony was giving her great ideas of way to improve Twain's programming, dropping hints and comments to help steer her towards developing the fundamentals of the ideas herself. He was actually doing a lot to help her learn more complex codings that she could never have figured out on her own.

"Earth the Bella," Tony said, his head tipping downwards slightly to catch her eye.

"Hmm?" Bella responded, finally noticing that he had said her name a few times before she noticed. She was really starting to fade out, and she was a little embarrassed. "Sorry, been a long day."

"No need to apologize. I probably shouldn't have kept you up so late."

"No no, I really enjoyed your help! You've given me some really great things to work on." A yawn escaped her lips, and she smiled apologetically.

"Alright, time for bed, I think," Tony said as he pushed away from the desk. Grabbing the back of her chair, he pulled her away as well. "Twain, turn this stuff off, Bella needs to rest now, and if we let her, she might end up going all night."

"Mr. Stark is correct Ms. Bella. You do need to rest." Twain said as the monitors went dark.

"Everyone is teaming up against me," Bella jokingly protested.

Tony laughed, and in a swift movement, had pulled her up out of her chair and slung her into his arms. "For your own good." He walked her to the bedroom and dropped her on the bed, staring down at her with a smirk on his lips. She gasped slightly as she hit the mattress, then smiled up at him.

"Alright, alright, I get the point. Now shoo!"

Tony affected an embellished bow, chuckling slightly. "As you wish," he said, then grinned devilishly as he swept down, pressing his lips against hers for just a split second before turning to leave the room.

For a moment Bella didn't know how to respond. It was there and gone so quick that she was stunned. Recovering herself, she grabbed a pillow off the bed and threw it at his retreating back, laughing as it made contact just before he made good on his escape. "You scoundrel!"

"One of the best," she heard him say as he closed the door behind him.


	11. Chapter 11

Tony was flying in a way he hadn't done before. As he navigated the winding PCH in the darkness on his way home, he knew he was acting like a lovestruck teenager, but he didn't really care at this point. He hadn't really felt this relaxed and, dare he say, happy since...well, since before those god awful three months of captivity. But there was something special about this girl. Something that made him feel easy around her. A kindred spirit. Someone who reminded him so much of himself. At first it had been simple curiosity that had drawn him to her. A girl with no formal training or education in computers, who was able to build programs that took him years to develop. But the more time he spent around her, the more he felt like she was drawing him out of a depth of darkness he hadn't even realized he had been falling into.

On some wicked impulse, he had kissed her. True, it was very brief, and he was gone almost as soon as it had happened, but she hadn't seemed bothered by it. Instead she had laughed and teased him right back. A smirk quirked up the corner of his lips as he remembered the look on her face after he had pulled back. As if a thousand fantasies had floated through her thoughts in that moment. They had definitely flown through his, and he found himself forcing control in a way he had never done before. Bella wasn't like any of the women he had picked up and dropped when he was done with them. Behind her strong eyes lingered a fragility that showed she had been hurt before, and he found himself wanting to protect her from being hurt again. She may only be 18 years old, but her soul and her spirit felt much older.

As he pulled off the highway and onto the winding road leading up to his cliffside home, he caught a flicker of something out of the corner of his eye, and he glanced back in his mirror, only to find nothing there. He assumed it was some animal running across the road, wouldn't be the first time, and thought nothing more of it.

"Honey, I'm home," he said as he slipped out of his car in the garage of his workshop.

"Welcome home sir," Jarvis responded.

"Is the suit on the loading deck Jarvis?" He definitely felt the need to get into the air tonight. A test flight might be just the thing he needed.

"Yes sir."

"Excellent. I'm gonna clean up, then I'd like to take it out, finally get a chance to really test out those new thrusters we installed."

"As you wish sir." Jarvis replied as the machines began to whir to life, setting up for the coming deployment of the armor.

Grabbing the neoprene undersuit off it's hook, Tony dashed up the stairs into the main house. After a quick shower and a drink, he was ready for some fun. Stepping onto the platform that housed the disassembled armor, he activated the controls and waited as the robotic arms, controlled by Jarvis, built and secured the suit around him. As the faceplate of the helmet clanged shut, the HUD came to life, and he quickly checked over power levels and connections of the new equipment. Everything seemed to be in order. "Alright, let's see what this baby can do," he said as he activated the main thrusters and burst across the workshop and up the ramp leading to the outside.

The thrill of flying on his own never died out, and he laughed with exhilaration as he corkscrewed through the air, heading out across the open water. After another few moments of gyrating through the clouds, he settled down and began to concentrate. Steadying out his flight path, he cruised over the water. "Alright then, activate rear thrusters," he said, feeling the slight jolt in his speed as the thruster pack on his back flared to life.

"Power levels remain stable," Jarvis said. "Negligible effect in power output."

"Excellent. Let's try some maneuvers and see how the pack affects them." Putting action to words, Tony began spinning again, and could feel the difference from before. The new thrusters were working just as they should, helping to stabilize his flight and keep him from bouncing about as he twisted and spun, rose and dove, through the air. For what felt like hours, but was probably less than one, he dove and spun, testing every possible type of flight movement that he might attempt. "I think we can call the test a success."

"Agreed sir."

Taking a few more moments simply for the feeling of freedom that the armor gave him, Tony allowed himself to begin to drift back towards the shoreline and home. As he approached his house from the ocean side, he noticed something that didn't seem quite right. Hanging back, he turned his attention to the cliff just below the level of his balcony. There was something there that was catching and reflecting the moonlight. The HUD responded to his focus, and zoomed into the area he was watching. For a moment he thought there must have been some malfunction in the display system. There was someone clinging to the rock! The scanners in the suit roamed across the figure, and the readings he got back on his display were impossible. There was nothing to show that something was there. No heat readings, no vital signs, nothing. But there he/she/it was, clear as day.

Dropping altitude, he moved closer to the cliff face, hovering on level with the house. But the sound of his approach alerted the person on the cliff, and he got a brief glimpse of a beautifully pale woman's face surrounded by a cloud of red hair, then she disappeared, seeming to drop from the cliff right down into the water almost 100 feet below. He dove after her, hovering just above the water line, but could see nothing of where she might have gone, and the HUD showed nothing, just as it had before.  
"Jarvis, what was that I just saw?"

"No readings appeared out of normal sir," Jarvis replied with his usual calm. “Motion sensors did catch movement. Perhaps a small rockslide from the side of the cliff.” Was he seeing things? No way, whatever it had been, it was real, and it was stranger than anything he had seen before.

Heading back down into the house, Tony felt slightly on edge as he thought about what he had seen. It had definitely been a woman, but why did she give off no readings on his sensors, and where had she gone when she dropped off of the cliff. Why had she been there in the first place?

After the robotic arms had peeled the suit off, Tony moved upstairs and poured himself a glass of scotch, sitting down on the couch and thinking. There was always a possibility that the...the entity (he wasn't sure if he could really call her a woman) might come back in the night, and how was he supposed to know, if the sensors couldn't pick it up. "Jarvis, activate the outside motion sensors and alarm them, will you?" Anything was better than nothing, he figured. At least if something moved outside of the house, he'd know about it. Deciding that was all he could do about it for now, he downed the rest of his glass and headed up to his bedroom. "Night Jarvis."

"Goodnight sir. Sleep well."


	12. Chapter 12

Saturday came quickly for Bella. It seemed as if her first week at Stark Industries had flown by in a blur. But she was having so much fun with the work. Over the last few days, she had finally been able to really step in and help with the research that she had been studying under Dr. Riva. She felt as if she was actually somewhere she belonged, which was quite a novel feeling for her. She always felt out of place, whether it had been at her old home in Phoenix, or at her new home in Forks. But here in Los Angeles, working with people who understood her newfound love of computers and technology, she felt as if she were truly at home for the first time. And her surprising friendship with Tony himself was growing in ways she couldn't believe.

Every morning of the week, he had met her outside of her door in the morning, walking with her to the computer lab. Sometimes he would hang out and watch as they worked, sometimes he would say goodbye at the door and run off to some important task he had to do. And he would always be there again when it was time to call it a night. They would spend the evenings at her apartment, playing with codes and programs and eating take out until she was too tired to continue. He would say goodnight and leave, but there was not another repeat of that first surprising night when he had dumped her on her bed and kissed her, though by the electricity in the air around them, it felt as if he had wanted to.

Saturday afternoon found her in Tony's workshop once more, having been picked up by him that morning and invited up to spend the day with him. And there was no way she was going to refuse such an offer. She didn't want to spend the weekend alone, and Tony was the only friend she had down here after all. She was watching as he tinkered with the Iron Man armor, assisting where she could by handing him tools as he needed them, and refilling his coffee mug once in a while. And she was having the time of her life.

"Hey Tony," she said after a while of watching him work. "I don't know about you superheros, but us mere mortals need to eat lunch sometime." But he didn't seem to have heard her, engrossed as he was in the work. She understood that, she had been there herself sometimes. With a sigh and a shake of her head, she hopped down from the tabletop she had been sitting on. "I'm gonna go scrounge through your kitchen." A muffled "yeah sure," was the response she got from him as he played with the wires under the torso of the armor.

Tony's kitchen was a gourmet chef's dream. Anything that could ever be needed was at hand and ready to be used. Either Tony himself did a fair amount of cooking, or he had someone do it for him, as the cabinets and refrigerator were all well stocked. Searching through everything, she quickly found the makings of a decent lunch. Cooking was another thing she really enjoyed, and half an hour later she had put together a good homestyle meal of chicken fried steak with all the right sides. Setting places on the dining room table adjacent to the kitchen, she popped back down the stairs to the workshop, finding Tony exactly where she had left him.

Smiling, she moved over to him, tapping his shoulder to get his attention. "Hey Tony, lunch is ready upstairs."

"Hmm, what?" Tony said as he turned to look at her, his eye moving from the hand that still rested on his shoulder up to her face.

"Lunch, upstairs, now." Bella said with a laugh as she drew her hand back. As if on cue, she could actually hear his stomach rumbling. Hiding a grin, she pointed. "See?"

"Oh yeah," he said as he glanced back at the suit before setting his tool down. "Sometimes I forget about it when I'm working."

"Well it's a good thing you have me here to take care of you then," she said as she turned and began heading back upstairs.

"I may have to keep you around then," he said from close behind her. For a moment her heart fluttered, and she found herself stumbling backwards as her foot missed a step...and then found herself securely in Tony's arms for the second time that week. Her face turned scarlet as she looked up at him. "You missed a step," he said with a laugh, not setting her down as he continued up the rest of the stairs.

"No kidding Sherlock," she mumbled.

***

Edward sat with his back pressed against the low wall outside of the Malibu home where Bella had been most of the day. His mind churned with the painful thoughts of the only woman he had ever loved. The long months he had been away, he had held the hope in his dead heart that she might one day be his again. It had been one of the few things that had kept him going, despite his determination to remain distant from her. She deserved the chance at a normal life, a life that he couldn't give her. But now that she seemed to be finding that life, he found that he had to fight with himself to keep from trying to take her back into his arms and giving her everything she had asked of him, if it would make her his again.

His lips turned down as he heard the sound of Bella and Tony laughing together from inside of the house. Had she ever sounded that free and happy when she was with him? He didn't think so. She had always been awkward, nervous, wondering when the dream of their relationship would end. And it had, the bubble had burst violently at his own hands. And now she had a new dream.

Anthony Stark...Iron Man. Of course she wouldn't find someone "normal" to be with. Vampire, superhero millionaire...how could one person end up with such unlikely relationships so easily?

It had only been a handful of hours, but he found that he couldn't sit there any longer. He couldn't bear to hear what he had been hearing. He would go out into the hills surrounding the city and hunt for now. She had her "superhero" to protect her for now. Standing up, he glanced back at the house once more, silently promising himself that he would return before dark, to make sure she was alright. Then he ran.

***

Tony glanced up from the rewiring in the suit he had been working on and watched with a bemused expression as Bella played with the holotable he had in his workshop. She was trying to figure out a puzzle game that Jarvis had developed for the interface, and she wasn't having too much luck with it. Even he found it difficult at times. He would often turn it on and take a crack at it when he found himself stuck on some other problem. It helped to clear his mind for a few minutes and give him a fresh start. He chuckled to himself when he heard her mumble under her breath as she miscalculated a move in the game and wound up starting over.

Moving behind Bella, he reached around her and moved one of the holographic pieces with a flick of his wrist. "That'll help," he said as she turned her head to look back at him. As blue eyes caught brown eyes, the only thought that made its way past his mind was the richness of dark chocolate. Before he could think of anything else, he had leaned his head down and pressed his lips against hers for the second time. Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn't for her to turn in his half-embrace and return the pressure of his kiss. He pulled his arm back, circling it around her waist and holding her as he pulled away from the kiss. For a moment, her eyes remained closed, and he wondered at the dreamy look on her face. Then they fluttered open, and she smiled up at him.

"I think that does help, thanks," she said. "Though I might need another to make sure." She leaned up into his arms, initiating the contact herself, and he could feel her heartbeat pounding in her chest as her body was pressed up against his. Taking the lead, he tightened his arm around her and deepened the kiss, thrilling at her acceptance and the soft moan that came from her. After a few heartbeats, he released her, delighted to find her breath was coming in soft gasps.

"Stay the night here with me, Bella?"


	13. Chapter 13

Bella couldn't believe that this was really happening. Her heart was racing a million miles a minute as she followed Tony up the stairs into the main part of the house, her hand still firmly grasped within his. Was she out of her mind, agreeing to stay the night with him? Maybe, but it felt so good. So...right. As they reached the top of the stairs, he turned back towards her, drawing her against him again. The taste of his kiss was something she believed she would never tire of, and she found her body automatically responding to the passion in his eyes and in his touch. It felt as if a fire had started burning inside of her, and she found what she had been missing for so long.

With the new feelings awakening through her, her nervousness began slipping away, and she dared to touch in the way she had dreamt of over the last week. Her hands slid up over Tony's arms, and down to rest against his chest, fingers curling into the soft fabric of his t-shirt. "Oh Tony," she whispered, her head falling to rest against his shoulder. His hands slid around her waist, holding her close, and she felt his warm breath stirring her hair as he pressed his lips to the top of her head. Without releasing his hold on her, she felt Tony begin to move again, slowly walking them back towards the cliffside part of the house.

"You are so beautiful Bella," he breathed into her hair, "you've no idea what you've done to me, what you're doing to me." She felt the heat invade her skin at his words, and she clung to him just a little more, praying that he wouldn't slip away like he had so many times in her dreams. She felt him shift slightly against her, and she glanced up at his face, finding him smiling down at her. He pressed his forehead against hers, looking into her eyes. "Though I daresay, if you get any closer, you might get some idea."

For a moment she puzzled about his words, then gasped softly as she realized what he meant. She tried to move backwards a bit, to put a little space between, but found herself held firmly in place by his strong arms around her waist. He chuckled quietly, and pulled her closer, and she tried unsuccessfully to suppress a soft moan as her body came flush with his, and she could feel the length of him against her. And she knew then a little of what he meant, and the burning inside of her surged. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she pulled herself up against him, resting her cheek against his.

"God Bella," Tony said as he began moving them again, and in a moment, Bella found herself being picked up and laid backwards upon a feathersoft bed. As he pulled back and looked down at her, Bella smiled softly and tried to look alluring, though she wasn't sure if she was quite pulling it off. "Are you sure about this?" Tony asked, though his eyes roamed hungrily across her body against the sheets.

"Absolutely," she replied, reaching up to pull him down next to her. "I don't think I've ever wanted anything more." Taking a chance, she moved her hands down, slipping under the hem of his shirt and running across his stomach. She watched with a satisfied smile as his eyes slid shut and he inhaled sharply at her touch. Pulling at the fabric she managed, with a little assistance from its owner, to pull it up over his head and down his arms, and she tossed it aside. Her hands ran down his chest, gingerly tracing the skin around the blue glow of the reactor implanted in his chest. The cool metal contrasted sharply with the warmth of his skin, and she found herself curiously entranced by it. Realizing she was staring, she smiled sheepishly and turned her eyes downward.

"It's alright," he said as he took her hand in his, raising it to his lips and pressing a kiss against the tips of her fingers. Lowering their hands, he pressed hers back against this chest, then dropped his to rest against her sides. Leaning down, he pressed his lips against her throat, softly tracing a path along the side of her neck to her ear. And she felt his hands slide against her sides, slipping under her shirt and gliding lightly across her skin. She found herself arching up against him, silently pleading for more, and she knew that he would grant her wordless request. He wouldn't stop, wouldn't leave her aching for more. He could hold her, could touch her, could love her the way she needed so desperately.

Even as he held her, as he slid his hands along her soft skin, Tony still didn't know if this was the best idea. There were so many things that could be considered wrong here, but he couldn't bring himself to care. All he knew was that he had found himself wanting to hold her like this, been thinking of it almost constantly, and couldn't deny himself the chance when it was so obvious it was what she wanted as well. And so he had allowed her to get closer to him than any other woman had gotten in quite awhile. He smiled against her neck as he felt her arch up against him, and he responded by nipping gently at the skin under his lips, his hands tracing across her belly, lightly dancing across her skin and slowly pushing her shirt up to expose the milky skin underneath.

"Edward!" Bella suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" Tony asked, pulling back and looked down at her. But she was staring past him, towards the windows of the bedroom. Glancing over his shoulder, he started at the sight of someone standing on the edge of his balcony. Scrambling to his feet, he watched as the young man moved forward, towards the door leading into the room, the blue glow from his RT reflecting oddly off the man's skin. "You know him, Bella?" he asked, without turning his eyes from the stranger. He felt her move next to him, her hand resting against his forearm as she stood beside him.

"Um, yeah, from...from back home. I mean...we, that is..." she stumbled over her words, not looking at either one of them, but down at the floor. "What is he doing here?"

A feeling of needing to protect came over him, and he shifted slightly to put himself in front of Bella. He allowed a hard, cold look to wash across his face as he stared at the man who had somehow come onto his balcony, a damn near impossible task, as the only way to do without being noticed would have been to scale the sheer cliff underneath. For a brief moment, the memory of his last flight in the armor flashed through his mind, the woman he had seen on the cliff. The same eerily pale skin as this man had. "Who are you, what are you doing here?" Tony demanded, putting all the authority he had at his disposal into his voice.

However the stranger didn't seem at all intimidated by him, his golden eyes fixed on Bella behind him, and mixture of anger, sadness, and some other unnameable emotion flickering behind his eyes. "You're in danger here Bella," he said, his voice soft, yet full of seriousness. "I need to take you away from this place."

Tony was about to say something again, when he felt Bella tense up behind him, and then move around him. "And what makes you think you have any right to just barge back into my life?" Tony was shocked at the depth of anger and...and hurt in her voice. He began to realize that this man was probably an old boyfriend, the one who had caused the hurt he had seen in her eyes before. "You wanted me to move on, remember? And now that I have, you suddenly show up and try to take me away again? No way Edward."

"Bella," Tony began, reaching a hand to rest against her arm. But she shook him off, the well of suppressed feelings spilling over and cascading into a raging waterfall.

"Why don't you just leave again, you're good at that." Bella said, and Tony could hear the tremor in her voice. He might not know the whole story here, but he knew she was hurting, and it was more than enough to cause his dislike for this boy to increase.

"Yes, why don't you leave," he said, stepping forward again. "You're on private property, and I'll..."

"You can't threaten me," Edward said, his voice cold as he addressed Tony. Turning back to Bella, he added, "Victoria is here, she's hunting you, both of you."

Tony didn't know what he was talking about, but by the way Bella gasped and backed up into him, he knew it couldn't be a good thing. "Anyone care to explain a little?"


	14. Chapter 14

_This is insane,_ Tony thought to himself as he sat on the couch in his living room, Bella sitting next to him and curling against him. This bronze haired young man who had suddenly appeared in his bedroom and disrupted what was turning into a very fun evening had just finished explaining his bizarre story. If it wasn't for the fact that Bella seemed to know exactly what he was talking about and had taken very seriously his words, Tony might have thought the guy was completely nuts. As it was, he was still entertaining the notion. Vampires? Seriously? Hunting down Bella, and by association, himself?

"It is not insane," the man, Edward, said, glaring at Tony. The hostility in his voice and in his expression was evident, and Tony found himself easily returning the emotion. After a moment, Edward turned his gaze back to Bella. "As I said, you're not safe here..."

"I'm not leaving," Bella said firmly. "If Victoria really wants to find me that badly, she'd just follow anyway."

"I'll take care of Bella," Tony said, tightening his arm around Bella's shoulders, and taking a perverse delight in the scowl that crossed Edward's face at the motion.

"You wouldn't be any match for a vampire, even with your little toy suit," Edward growled. "You have no idea what you would be up against."

"Then why don't you share? I bet I'd surprise you."

"I doubt that," the vampire replied with a dark smirk, and suddenly disappeared in a motion too fast to see. Doing his best not to let his surprise register in his expression, Tony glanced about, and nearly jumped when Edward reappeared behind him, an icy cold arm wrapped around and pressed none to gently against his throat.

"Edward!" Bella exclaimed, a note of fury in her voice. "Stop it." A heartbeat passed, and the pressure against his neck was gone, and Edward stepped back away from them. Giving Tony an apologetic look, Bella turned back towards Edward. "If you're so worried about it, why don't you find her?"

"She's been evading me," he replied, frustration leaking into his tone. "I've been trying to find her for awhile. I tracked her for several months until we ended up here, and found you. And for the last week we've been playing a game of cat and mouse. She never gets close enough for me to catch."

"Apparently you're not much of a match for this Victoria either," Tony said under his breath, earning him a glare from Edward, and a poke in the side from Bella.

"You behave too, Tony," she said. "Seriously, you two are acting like a couple of middle school brats."

Tony gave her one of his customary smirks. "Sorry babe," he said quietly. "I'll be good."

"I doubt you can," she replied, but smiled slightly at him. He heard another low growl from Edward behind him, and delighted in it.

"If I remember my vampire lore correctly, Bella should be safe enough during the day. And then you can just flap around at night and watch for this woman." Tony said over his shoulder.

"Tony," Bella said with a roll of her eyes.

"Daytime doesn't make any difference," Edward said, his voice strained. "Sunlight doesn't bother us. That's just a myth."

"Can we just try to find a way for you two to work together for a little while?" Bella asked with a sigh.

***

Bella was beginning to regret suggesting they work together. Between the veiled insults, and the angry glares, she was surprised Tony and Edward hadn't tried to kill each other yet. And she figured the only reason they hadn't was that because it might upset her. And they would be right of course. And as for herself, she was fighting an internal battle that was tearing her apart. She knew she had fallen hard for Tony, and had been happier than she could remember when she was with him, and then Edward showed up again. She wasn't so sure about her feelings towards the vampire anymore. She had once thought that she loved him, and thought she couldn't live without him, but now those feelings had cooled. Maybe she had just been entranced by the mystery, and by the magic of a world she couldn't be a part of.

They had moved their talk down into the workshop of Tony's home, and she sat nearby as Edward explained how to kill Victoria. And now Tony, with help from Jarvis, was trying to figure a way to modify his armor (again) to incorporate ideas that had sprung from their discussion. With Tony engrossed in his work again, the conversation had died, and Bella shifted uncomfortably in the awkward silence.  
"Can we talk?" Edward said quietly, moving to stand next to Bella in the little sitting area of the workshop. Glancing back at Tony and seeing he wasn't paying attention to them at all anymore, she sighed and nodded. Might as well get the inevitable out of the way. "I didn't come here to cause you pain," he said as he sat in a chair next to her. "I want you to be happy."

"So you've said," she replied, looking at the floor by her feet. "Do you have any idea how much it hurt me when you left?" She heard him sigh, and glanced up. He looked pained, as if he might actually be hurting as much as she had. "I was starting to get myself back together. I was beginning to be happy here."

"I know," he said. "I could tell."

"Then why are you acting as if it makes you so mad? Why are you being so...so horrible to Tony? If my happiness is what you wanted so desperately?"

For a moment, he remained silent, then he caught her eye and spoke in a low voice, thick with emotion. "I didn't realize how...hard it would be to watch you be happy with someone else. Despite everything I said before, the things I said when I left, it hurt me just as badly to leave you behind. I thought I was doing the right thing by leaving. Giving you the chance for a normal life, a safe life."

"I seem incapable of having a 'safe' life," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"So it would seem."

"Edward," she began, then stopped. She tried to gather her scattered thoughts, and make sense of the feelings rushing through her. He seemed to realize she needed a moment and waited for her to speak again. She looked up at him for a moment, then over his shoulder towards Tony, who was working with the holotable. Looking back at Edward she sighed and spoke softly. "I still love you," she said. "But it's not the same anymore. "I don't think it can ever be that way again. Not after everything that's happened. I...I don't know what's happening with me now, where this thing with Tony will go...but I know I have to give myself a chance to see. I've been...so happy with him, and with being here, and I have to let things fall into place for me. And I need you to respect that Edward."

"I understand," Edward said quietly. For a moment they were silent, then Edward sighed and turned his eyes to the floor. "He and I are alike in one way," he said. "We both care for you very much, and want to protect you."

She gave him a small smile. "Well let's use that as a start, and maybe we can work together without you two at each other's throats."

He returned her smile, and nodded. "I'll try."

"Hey you two," Tony called out, catching their attention. Bella glanced up at him with a smile as he moved towards them. "Think I might have something figured out here. As soon as the boys finish machining the parts I can put them on the suit. And then we can go on a little hunting trip."

***

A few hours later, Bella found herself sitting alone in Tony's workshop. He had finished putting together his latest idea, and Edward had approved of his designs, even going so far as to commend Tony on his innovativeness in finding a way to electronically track a vampire's movements. They had decided to take it for a test run, leaving Bella in the safety of the workshop, which had a lockdown mode that they felt reasonably secure enough since they wouldn't be going too far. Still, she felt a little uneasy at the thought of being left alone. Or almost alone.

"Ms. Swan," Jarvis said, drawing her out of her thoughts.

"Just 'Bella' please, Jarvis," she said. "What's up?"

"As you wish Bella," replied the AI. "I thought you might wish to know that Mr. Stark seems to be having luck with his new device. The tests so far show positive results."

"That's good to know," she said, appreciating that Jarvis was trying to ease her nerves. "I just hate being alone. I mean, I know you're here, but it's different. I'd like having someone actually here. But I know they both had to go out to test the equipment."

For a moment there was no response, then Bella saw a flicker out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head, she saw an image start to appear on the holotable that Tony used for his work. After a moment it came together, and the holographic figure of a man took form, sitting cross legged on the glass top. Slender, and tall if he were to stand, with white-blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale skin, and dressed in a very formal black suit and tie, he looked very...regal. He smiled gently at her. "I know it is not the same as having someone physically here, but I thought perhaps it would help," the man spoke with Jarvis' voice.

"Oh wow Jarvis," she said, moving her chair closer to the table. "That is really cool. You are quite handsome, if I may say so."

"Thank you Bella," he replied. "I don't often have need to use my holographic form, but I've developed it for the times when it might be useful. And it seems it was as well that I did."

"I'm glad you did," she said. "It does help having a face to go with a voice. You look just like I would have pictured from your voice. Did you develop the image yourself, or did Tony..?"

"I created the image," he said, a smile turning up the lips on the face of the projection. "I endeavored to cultivate an image that fit properly with my position," he gave a wan smile, "as Mr. Stark's assistant."

She laughed. "I think you're more than that. He seems quite fond of you, from the way he's talked about you when he was helping me with my own AI program."

"It is nice to know I am appreciated," he replied with a smirk that reminded her of Tony when he was being snarky. She was quite amused how the two shared similar qualities like that, but supposed it came from the fact that Tony had programmed Jarvis. But still, Jarvis did seem to be a separate person on his own. She wondered vaguely just how advanced his programming was, but would never ask. It wasn't her business. "Mr. Stark and Mr. Cullen are on their way back," he said, drawing her attention away from her musings.

"Already?"

"Their tests went very well."

"Well, that's good to know," she said. "Maybe we aren't in as bad of trouble as we thought." She heard a rumbling from behind her, and turned and watched as Tony in the Iron Man armor flew down the entry way and into the workshop, followed closely by Edward running in after him. Tony landed, the faceplate of the armor's helmet flipping up, and he smiled at her.

"So far so good," he said. "Hey Jarvis," he added, glancing behind her at the holo image of his AI.

"Hello Mr. Stark," Jarvis said with a nod of his head. "I was just keeping Ms. Swan company while we waited for your return."

"Ah, I see," Tony said as he moved towards the loading deck to remove the armor. "If we ever get to that upgrade we were talking about to install the projectors into the workshop floor, you won't be confined to that table."

"One thing at a time, sir," Jarvis replied as he started up the robotic arms to disassemble and store the suit in the platform.


	15. Chapter 15

Bella awoke slowly, her mind trying desperately to cling to the images that had flitted through her dreams. But eventually consciousness won the battle, and she sighed as she began to stretch. And then she came fully alert when her stretching brought her into contact with a solid form laying next to her. Turning her head slightly, she peeked her eyes open, and found Tony laying next to her, snoring softly into his pillow. Then the events of the previous night reinserted themselves in her mind.

After the disastrous turn of events starting with Edward showing up in Tony's bedroom, they had spent most of the rest of the night discussing how to handle the fact that a vengeful vampire was stalking them. It was long after midnight that Bella finally insisted on sleep for the mortals. "After all," she had said, "we still need to sleep, even if you don't Edward. And we won't be in any shape to do anything if we're exhausted." By some unspoken agreement, she had followed Tony into his bedroom once more, and had fallen asleep almost as soon as her head had hit the pillow. And apparently he hadn't fared much better, as he was sleeping still fully dressed. She wasn't sure where Edward had gone, but since the sun was shining brightly through the windows, she figured he had gone into hiding somewhere nearby.

Closing her eyes again, she tried to find an inner peace, and not worry about the threats looming over her head. There was nothing she could do about it right now, and so she would try to keep her calm. Feeling a shift against her, she opened her eyes again, only to find Tony watching her with a sleepy expression. "You're thinking too much," he mumbled, shifting to wrap an arm around her waist and pull her closer.

"Sorry," she said as she sighed happily, tucking herself against his chest, her cheek pressed against the low thrumming of his RT. She felt safe there, despite the supernatural horrors surrounding her.

"Don't be," he said quietly, his lips pressed against her hair. "Try and get a little more sleep. It's still early."

She nodded a little, but knew that sleep probably wouldn't return to her now. Not when she thought about what was going to happen soon. Once the sun set again, Tony and Edward would be out there, trying to find Victoria. And it was causing her too much concern. She couldn't bear the thought of either of them being hurt while trying to protect her. Why did it always seem that she put those around her in danger? She was just a magnet for trouble.

"You're still worrying, aren't you?" Tony asked with a small chuckle. When she answered him with silence, he pulled back enough that he could tilt her head up and force her to look at him. "Don't worry Bella," he said. "Everything will be fine." Then he leaned down and kissed her gently. She returned the soft affection, then sighed and curled against him again.

"Sir," Jarvis' voice interrupted the quiet, and Tony made an annoyed sound somewhere between a growl and a sigh. "Forgive the intrusion, but Ms. Potts is downstairs, and wishes to speak with you."  
"Tell her I'll be down in shortly," he said, but didn't move from his spot next to her. "What does she want so bloody early on a Sunday morning?"

Though she didn't want to lose the warmth and comfort of his arms, Bella pushed back away from him, giving him a small smile. "Why don't you go find out before she comes looking for you?"  
He grinned down at her with a look in his eyes that made Bella's stomach do a flip. "Alright," he said, his voice almost a purr. "But don't you go anywhere. I plan on finishing what I started before our interruption last night."

Despite her best efforts, Bella flushed red at his words, and turned to hide her face in the pillow. She heard him laugh, then the bed shifted and he was gone, padding silently out of the room. Peeking out of the corner of her eye to make sure he had really left, Bella turned and looked up at the ceiling above her. Figuring she had a little bit of time before Tony would return, she made her way to the luxurious bathroom attached to the bedroom, taking her "human" moments to feel more herself.

***

Tony was annoyed as he made his way downstairs to the main area of the house. Had his life always had this many disruptions? Or did it just seem more frustrating because of the current circumstances? Didn't matter either way, he was still annoyed. But it wasn't Pepper's fault, so he would do his best not to take it out on her. Putting a smile on his face that was usually reserved for bothersome reporters and TV cameras, he took the final steps down the stairs and found Pepper in the living room, tapping away on her PDA.

"Hey Pepper," he said as he brushed past her towards the kitchen. Coffee was definitely a good idea. He'd been exhausted as hell for all the wrong reasons when he made it to bed, and had not slept a great length of time. He was aware of Pepper coming up behind him, and glanced over his shoulder at her as he set the coffee to brewing.

"Tony, I need to talk to you about your schedule for this week," she began with no preamble. Right to business, that was Pepper.

"Good morning to you too," he said with a smirk. Bothering Pepper was always a favorite sport of his. She never seemed to get ruffled by him, which only made him more determined.

"Good morning," she said flatly before turning back to her PDA. "Newsweek called and asked if they could move your interview for their next issue up from Thursday to Tuesday instead, and your meeting tomorrow with..."

"Cancel it all," he said in an even voice, watching her face. "The whole week. I'm taking a vacation."

She stopped tapping on her device, and looked up at him with a quirk of her eyebrows. "A vacation? Tony, you can't take a vacation right now. There's too much going on the next couple of weeks. I need you here and doing the job you're supposed to be doing."

"But you do it so much better," he replied as he fixed his cup of java. "My name on the building. That means I can take some time off if I want to. Corporate retreat, whatever. Make it work."  
"I..." she paused, shook her head, and began tapping away again. "Will that be all, Mr. Stark?"

"That will be all, Ms. Potts," he said, finishing their customary exchange. Downing the drink in one shot, he gave her a wink, then moved past her and back towards the stairs, his mind already on the beautiful brunette waiting for him there. And he'd be damned if he let another interruption stop him this time.

***

Pepper did her best not to let her frustration get the best of her. Tony could be so...exasperating at times, but after so many years of dealing with him, she'd learned it was best to go along with his crazy ideas. Otherwise he'd sulk for awhile and make everyone else generally miserable, at least until some new idea raced across his mind, and he went off on another tangent. But if it was something as simple as cancelling his schedule for a week, instead of some of his crazier notions, then she could handle that. She'd have to make up some excuses to placate people, but she was used to that. And most people who had dealt with Tony before would understand. At any rate, if Tony wanted to take some time to himself, that just gave her a little bit of a break as well, which she definitely felt she could use.

A short time later, she had finally made it back to her apartment in the city, and was looking forward to spending the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing with a drink in front of her television with a good movie or two. But she felt uneasy as she entered her home. She could have sworn she had left windows open to catch the breeze, but they were shut with the shades drawn tight, drowning the room in darkness. Reaching out a hand, she flicked the light switch, but nothing happened. She began to get nervous, and started backing up towards the door. But before she could even make it a step or two, she felt something extremely hard push her roughly up against the wall. She tried to yell for help, but her voice was cut off by something pressed tight against her throat.

"Tsk tsk," a girlish voice said in the darkness. "You really should be a little more careful honey. You can never be too safe in the city." And then the lights flickered to life, and Pepper caught the briefest glimpse of a pale, red-haired woman looming over her, lips parted to show a vicious smile, before her world exploded in a fireball of pain.

Silence filled the apartment, broken only by the muffled sound of something falling to the carpet. A tiny rivulet of red stained the light floor, and green eyes stared sightlessly from behind a curtain of strawberry blonde hair.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is no plot advancement in this chapter. It is purely sexy fluff. Literally. No plot. Don't say I didn't warn you. lol

By the time Tony started up the stairs, his mind had already moved on past the annoyances of the business that Pepper had brought upon his morning. He'd be damned if he let any more interruptions take him away from Bella. "Hey Jarvis," he said as he made his way up towards the bedroom, "Lockdown the outside of the house. I don't want anyone coming in. And activate Directive Six."

"As you wish sir," Jarvis replied, and Tony could hear the whirring of the locks clicking on the exterior doors of the house. It probably wouldn't hold out the vampire boy if he came back, but at least it was worth a try. And with directive six activated, Jarvis wouldn't bother them for anything short of a nuclear blast, and even then he might hesitate to disturb them.

When he entered the bedroom, he found Bella laying on the large bed, apparently having fallen back asleep. He took a moment just to admire the sight before him. With her chocolate hair fanned out on the pillow around her head, she looked very alluring, and if he wasn't mistaken, the flow of the satin sheets over her slender form betrayed no hint of the clothing she had been in when he left. A lascivious smirk set upon his lips as he moved towards the bed, pulling off his shirt as he approached. Gingerly, he sat on the edge of the mattress, reaching out a hand to brush a lock of hair from her forehead. She stirred under his touch, brown eyes peeking open to gaze up at him.

A smile graced her lips as she shifted to make more room for him next to her. "Hey," she said sleepily. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, just fine," he said as he moved to lay next to her, slipping underneath the sheets with her. His hand sought out her waist to pull her body against his, and he was delighted to find his observation correct. She was nude under the sheets, apparently on quite the same wavelength as him. She moved willingly to press herself against him, gasping softly as her chest came into contact with his, warm skin contrasting sharply with the cold metal of his RT. "But right now is just about us," he whispered, bending his head to brush his lips along her ear.

"Perfect," she said with a shiver as her hands came to rest against his sides, fingers stroking lightly against his skin. God, it had been a long time since he had touched and been touched like this. Since before Afghanistan. Tony felt Bella's warm breath ghosting against his shoulder in soft pants, and he shifted to brush his fingers over her chin, turning her face up to his.

"Is this alright?" Tony asked, looking into her eyes and seeing the nervousness behind the chocolate depths.

"Of course, yes," she said, "I mean, I've never...but I want to...with you," she continued, her words broken as a flush colored her cheeks. That would explain some of her nervousness, he figured. And suddenly he felt like the evil villian, corrupting an innocent youth. The thought actually excited him in a way, and he bent his head to capture her lips with his, pouring the passion he felt for her into the kiss. He thrilled at the soft moans coming from her and his arms tightened around her, their bodies flush against each other.

Tony could feel Bella becoming more sure of herself, her touch growing firmer as she gained confidence. Her fingers slid lightly over his side and along his stomach, drawing a quiet moan from him. Watching him as though she was waiting for him to object (yeah right), her fingers fumbled with the button on the waistband of his pants. With an encouraging grin, he reached down and steadied her shaking hand, helping her get the button undone, and then lifting his waist as she slowly pushed the fabric off of his hips. Before she could move to push them further down, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back up for a kiss as he kicked the pants off with his feet, pushing the fabric down off the edge of the bed.

With his arms around her, Tony rolled until he was on his back, Bella resting on top of him. She gasped, eyes opened wide as she found herself straddling his waist, her hands pressed against his chest. Taking delight in her reactions, he watched her face as he moved his hands across her belly, sliding them slowly up to brush against her breasts. The soft gasp that fell from her lips went straight to his groin, and he shifted to press up against her. She surprised him by pressing back down against him, pulling a groan from him.

Suddenly the easy pace he had been taking seemed frustratingly slow. He was achingly hard, and wanted this woman in his arms with an urgency he hadn't known before. His hands grew more firm in their touches, sliding across her chest to cup his palm around her breasts, thumbs grazing lightly across their peaks. Her eyes fell shut as she moaned at his touch, head falling back as she leaned into his hands. Pulling himself up, Tony let his lips brush against where his fingers had just caressed, suckling softly at the delightfully puckered flesh. He felt Bella's fingers thread and curl through his hair as she pressed against him, his name falling from her lips in a heated murmur.

Using lips and tongue, he continued his attentions upon her breasts until she was whimpering and twisting against him. Then he pulled away, glancing up at her face. Her skin was flushed, tiny beads of sweat gathered at her temples, eyes closed, and her lips parted as heavy breaths passed them. It was one of the most beautiful sights he'd seen. Moving his hands to her waist, he lifted her off of him, turning them until they had reversed positions, and he leaned over her, supporting his weight with his arms on either side of her shoulders. She looked up at him with desire in her eyes, and a trust that he knew he would never, could never, break.

"I want you Tony, please," she whispered as she lifted her hands to run her fingers along his waist. Then with a daring she hadn't shown before, she moved her hand lower, fingers brushing against the hard length of him. A gasp made its way past his lips, and she smiled dazzlingly. Her fingers gingerly wrapped around him, unsure despite her daring, and stroked him gently. Feeling his breath growing heavy, Tony shifted his weight to one arm, reaching down to slide his fingers over hers, guiding her hand and encouraging her touch.

Leaning down, he pressed his lips to hers as his fingers shifted to brush teasingly against the soft curls between her legs. Then he pressed more firmly, rubbing his fingertips against her softness, causing her to whimper and shift against him. She was tantalizingly warm and soft, and he ached to take her and make her his. He took a few more moments to press and rub his fingers against her, then he pulled back, grasping her hand and pulling it away from him. For a moment she looked up at him with a worried look, as though she thought she might have done something wrong. But he just smiled down at her, lowering himself so that the hard length she had been stroking rested against the soft skin of her womanhood.

Her eyes fell shut, teeth catching her lower lip as she arched up against him in a wordless plea. And he was more than happy to give into her silent demand. Moving slowly, he pressed against her, his head falling to nuzzle against her neck and murmur soothingly to her as he moved. He felt her tense up against him as he began to press inside of her, and he stroked his hand gently along her side as he kissed her shoulder and neck. After a few moments he felt her begin to relax, and he continued his movements. Then he moaned in satisfaction as he felt himself encased fully inside of her sweet warmth. He stilled for a moment, letting her get accustomed to the feeling. Then she shifted against him, her lips forming words that were barely a whisper. "Tony...please," she breathed.

With slow, easy movements, he began to move against her, drawing from her embrace before pressing back in. Then all thought left his mind as his body took over in that instinctual dance, thrilling at the way she moved with him. Eventually her soft moans and whimpers increased in their intensity, and he could feel her body tensing up around him. "Yes, Bella," he growled into her ear as he sped up the thrust of his hips. Then he heard his name spill from her lips in a breathless yell, and the tightness that enveloped him was enough to push him over the edge. Stars danced beneath his eyelids as he rode out the high, breath gasping as his arm clenched around her, holding her tight against his body.

Gradually, he felt his body begin to relax, his breathing returning to normal. Slipping away from Bella, he shifted to lay beside her, smiling as she turned to rest against him, slipping under his arm to rest her head on his shoulder, her hand laying casually against his stomach.

"Wow, Tony..." she said quietly, "that was amazing.". She lifted her head to gaze up at him, a tiny smile creeping at the corners of her mouth.

"I'd have to agree," he said with a laugh, his hand coming up to brush against her cheek in a gentle caress. Her smile brightened, and she sighed happily as she returned her head to his shoulder, eyes falling shut as exhaustion began to creep up on her. "Get some rest," he said quietly, fingers trailing lightly over her back as he pulled the sheets up and tucked the fabric around them.


	17. Chapter 17

Despite his best efforts, Edward found that he couldn't stay away from Stark's estate for too long. He was just too worried about what might happen in his absence. And so he tortured himself by hanging around the grounds outside the house. After the red-haired woman had left earlier that morning, and the sounds of Bella and Stark...well, he had almost left right then. Instead he just tried to listen to anything but the sounds coming from the house, opting to scale down the cliff and sit next to the ocean, trying to concentrate on the echoing sounds of the waves breaking against the rocks.

Actually seeing and talking to Bella again, he found himself even more convinced that he should just stay out of her life, even though he still ached for her in every thought. But he had promised her that he would give her the space to figure out what she wanted, what she needed. And it seemed she had, in Stark. Doing his best to put aside his own emotions, he thought about the whole thing. Bella did seem to be happy with Tony, and it was obvious from his thoughts that Tony had quickly become devoted to her. And he definitely had the means to make her happy. Edward sighed as he resigned himself to the knowledge that he had to truly let her go. But he would make sure she was safe first. He owed her that much, since it was his fault she was in danger now.

For a while he sat, tossing pebbles into the oncoming waves and listening to the crash of water on the shoreline, and thinking about the upcoming hunt for Victoria. He had to admit that he was impressed with the amount of technological skill that Stark possessed. The system he programmed and built into his suit in just a few hours had proven most impressive. When they had gone on their test run of the device, Stark had been able to track him easily through the heavily wooded area around his home. The trail was only visible to him for a few seconds after Edward had passed though, but it was enough to follow Victoria if she started running. And the repulsor blasts that Tony had happily demonstrated on some unsuspecting trees had been quite powerful. Maybe not enough to destroy a vampire, but at least enough to knock her down until Edward could rip her apart.

He hated the thought of having to fight and to kill again, but he knew there was no other way. Even the peaceful Carlisle had consented to the destruction of James when he had proven that he wouldn't stop in his hunt for Bella.

The sky was just beginning to grow dim when he heard the sounds of life coming from the house up above. Making his way back up the cliffside, he slipped back around front, politely knocking on the front door. Popping the locks and letting himself in didn't seem like the best way to continue peaceful relations with Stark, and he knew Bella would be angry. After a moment, he heard the door click open, no doubt controlled by the house computer that seemed to have a mind of it's own. Letting himself in, he settled on the couch in the living room, waiting for Bella and Stark to come downstairs.

***

Bella stirred and stretched, sighing happily as she felt Tony's arm tighten briefly around her shoulders before he pulled away. Her body ached a little, the soreness was not unwelcome. It actually felt a little nice. Opening her eyes, she glanced over at the man laying next to her. He was looking at her with an oddly soft expression on his face, his lips twitched slightly upward, eyes bright and piercing. She smiled back at him, leaning up to press a kiss against his cheek. "Good morning...or afternoon, I think," she said.

"Same to you," he said with a chuckle as he turned to glance over his shoulder towards the windows along one wall of the bedroom. "Almost evening," he said, and then she noticed that one of the windows had a nearly transparent display showing the time, along with other info that she couldn't quite make out from where she was. "Vamp boy is downstairs," he said as he stretched and slipped from the bed, disappearing into a closet.

Despite their earlier activities, Bella found herself blushing slightly at the sight of a nude Tony walking across the bedroom. She clutched the sheets around herself as she sat up, looking about for where she had set her clothes. "Play nice with Edward, Tony," she said as she grabbed her clothes from the neat pile next to the nightstand and began getting dressed. Suddenly she found her head covered with a dark green fabric that Tony had tossed towards her. She pulled it off to discover it was a t-shirt.

"Wear that, it's cleaner than the shirt you were wearing," he said, and she reluctantly agreed that he was right. She hadn't been planning on spending the night when she came over yesterday, and hadn't brought a change of clothes. And so she slipped the soft fabric of the shirt over her head, grinning slightly at the way it swamped her thin figure. "Hmm," she heard Tony say from behind her. "Good look for you," he said, and she threw him a mock glare over her shoulder. He just laughed.

Running her fingers through her hair and pulling it mostly straight, she headed out of the bedroom and made her way downstairs, Tony following behind her. They found Edward in the living room, trying to figure the controls for the large flatscreen that was mounted on the wall. When he heard the coming, he gave up trying to make sense of the touch screen coffee table remote control thing, and instead turned his attention to them.

"Hey Edward," Bella said as she moved into the room, perching herself on the arm of one of the chairs.

"Afternoon Bella," Edward replied. "Tony," he said with a nod of his head.

"Edward," Tony replied.

Bella sighed silently. Well, at least it was civil. She supposed that was all she could ask for right now. "So what's the plan," she asked with a lightness of her tone as if she was just asking what movie they should go and see, instead of the seriousness the situation called for. It seemed that both Tony and Edward thought her briefly relieved of her sanity, then Tony smirked, and Edward rolled his eyes.

"We wait until it's dark," Edward said, glancing out the window at the sun slowly disappearing under the horizon, "then I'll go out and pick up Victoria's trail, and we'll start tracking her down. Hopefully we can catch her somewhere outside of the city and..." he let the sentence die off, giving a shrug of his shoulders.

"And you will stay in the workshop with Jarvis, with the house on lockdown," Tony said. "But we'll be in constant communication through him, so you won't be left out of the loop," he added.

"How will you know where to start looking?" Bella asked.

"I have a few ideas," Edward replied. "She's been visiting a few of the same places over and over, following you, so I'll start there and try to find a fresh trail. And Tony will stay here until I do." Edward glanced over at her, not needing to read her thoughts to know what she was thinking. "Don't worry. We'll both be perfectly safe. I can take care of myself, and Tony's armor is...impressive in its strength."

"I'll still be worried," Bella said.

***

Bella wished time wouldn't move so fast. The few hours of daylight left had gone so quickly, it felt as if the world had sped up in its spinning just to annoy her. And now she was a nervous wreck, sitting in Tony's workshop, watching Tony get secured into the armor while they waited for word from Edward. Despite their assurances, she still couldn't get the thoughts that plagued her to leave her mind. If Edward or Tony got hurt because of her, she didn't know that she would ever be able to forgive herself.

"Hey," Tony said, interrupting her thoughts.

"Yeah?" Bella asked, glancing over to where he was stepping heavily off of the assembly platform. He had raised the faceplate of the helmet, but it was still a little disconcerting to see Tony inside the suit.  
"You don't need to be so worried," he said, obviously picking up on her stress. "That Edward kid is able to handle himself, and I have a few tricks up my sleeves to keep me safe."

"I know," she said with a sigh. "But I just hate being left behind while everyone else puts themselves in danger to protect me."

"No danger," he said with confidence. "And it's my job to protect you. Not only as the invincible Iron Man, protector of men" he smirked, "but also as the man who loves you."

"Just promise you'll come back to me," she said, raising her arm to lay her hand against the cold metal that protected his heart.

"Of course I will," he said, and she tried to take some comfort in his assured demeanor.

Then the com unit crackled, and she heard Edward's voice come through the receiver. "Got her," he said. Bella felt her stomach turn to knots at those two words.

"Gotta go to work honey," Tony said with a grin as the faceplate of the helmet clanged shut. Bella stepped backwards as he moved towards the entryway, firing up the thrusters on the suit and shooting off up the ramp and out of her sight.

"Here we go," she said under her breath as she turned towards the monitors that kept an eye on the readouts of the armor.


	18. Chapter 18

Despite the assurances he had offered Bella down in the workshop, Tony was feeling just a little bit nervous about hunting down a vampire that could possibly crush him like a bug, even through the suit. For god's sakes, just a few days ago he would have scoffed at the idea of actual vampires running around Los Angeles, but now he was tossed into a world of mythology that he still didn't fully understand. Even odder was the fact that Bella had been completely unphased by any of it. She had actually dated that vampire boy? How weird was that? A little smirk briefly crossed his lips as he considered that he had Bella now, much to the obvious irritation of Edward.

But for now he had to push those thoughts away and focus on the task at hand. Edward was out there chasing down the woman that was intent on hunting down and hurting Bella in some twisted idea of revenge. Through the HUD on the helmet, Tony scanned the streets below him, catching the icy blur that was Edward moving inhumanly fast over the rooftops of the city. "Right above you," he said, knowing Edward would hear him via the comm unit he had taken when he left the workshop a few hours ago.

"I hear you," Edward replied, his voice almost inaudible over the rush of wind due to his running. "She passed this way within the last few hours."

As he flew in the skies overhead, Tony used the new technology in the HUD to scan the city below him, looking for the signature of a vampire, a signature that varied from that of normal people. For the briefest of moments, Tony thought there might have been a flaw in the tech, because numerous spots flashed across the display. Then he realized what he was seeing, and he was shocked. "Edward...how many vampires are in Los Angeles?" Through the comm, he heard Edward chuckle.

"What, did you think a city as big as this would only have one or two?"

He supposed that it shouldn't have surprised him. Edward was right. In a city with so many people, and such varied lifestyles, it would be a good place for a vampire to live. But how would he find the one they were looking for? He would just have to follow Edward to her, he supposed.

Suddenly, Edward stopped on the rooftop of a large building. He twisted, looking around him, then peered over the edge.

"What is it?" Tony asked, pulling back and dropping down to the rooftop.

"She stopped here," Edward replied, still looking over the edge of the building. "She climbed down the side of the building and went inside. What is this building?"

Tony glanced around, trying to get his bearings from the layout of the city around him. Then he felt the beginnings of a cold panic begin. "This...this is an apartment building," he said. "Pepper..." Oh god, please let me be wrong, he thought as he ignited the thrust on the boots and made his way down the side of the building. He could hear Edward scrambling down the stonework from the roof. What floor was Pepper's unit on? Then he saw it, a window on one of the floors busted in, yellow tape stretched across it like a crime scene. His heart skipped a beat as he maneuvered into the room, Edward right behind him.

"She was here," he heard Edward say from somewhere behind him, but he wasn't listening any more. This was Pepper's apartment. He pushed the faceplate of the helmet up, and looked around him. Everything looked to be in perfect order, aside from the broken glass of the window. Moving through the apartment, he stopped cold at the hallway leading to the front door. Yellow tape just like that at the window crossed the hallway. And in the dim light he saw a table laying sideways, it's lamp shattered on the floor, a black purse, it's contents spilled out from where it fell. And most frightening of all, a smear of red that was starting to darken on the wall, and a trail of the same color staining the carpet below.

Tony felt his stomach turn at the sight, but couldn't turn away. His thoughts raced out of control as he started at the evidence of violence in front of him.

"I'm sorry," Edward said, and Tony turned to glare at him. "She must have gone after Ms. Potts when she couldn't get to you." Tony's heart froze at the words, and he knew what Edward was implying. There was no hope that Pepper was still alive. The vampire woman had followed her and had killed her. Had destroyed one of the brightest stars in Tony's sky. He felt tears sting his eyes, but he pushed them back. There would be time for grief later. But right now he had a mission. Tony turned and stalked over to Edward, backing the vampire against a wall with the anger pouring out from him.

"Find her," he said, his voice clear and hard as ice. "Find her, so that I can kill her." Without another word, the faceplate of the helmet slammed shut and he turned and burst out of the window, back into the skies above. He didn't care how long it took, or how far he had to go. He would find the bitch and take her down himself if he had to.

***

As Tony flew from the shattered window of the apartment, Edward let out a breath he had been holding. The thoughts that Tony had been shouting in his mind were intensified by the emotions behind them, and one didn't need to be an empath to feel the rage that had been stoked into a blazing inferno by the sight in the room. Sending up a silent prayer for the poor soul that had been lost in the room, Edward made his way out and back up to the rooftop, catching the trail and heading off again.

He jumped from rooftop to rooftop, following the scent of Victoria. She was moving quickly, but not quickly enough. She had sealed her fate that day, and one way or another, the hunt would end tonight. Overheard he heard the rushing thrusters of the Iron Man armor, following close behind him as he tracked the woman.

He moved quickly, shifting from the rooftops to the darkened streets as they neared the outskirts of the city. She was moving north, into the hilly terrain outside of Los Angeles. He felt a brief moment of thankfulness. It would be much easier if they caught up with her out here, rather than in the city where there were too many innocents that could be in danger.

For a long while, he ran through the night, following the traces that were illuminating his path in a way that no human could detect. He began to wonder how far she had gone, if maybe she had left the area entirely. Or was she simply putting a large distance from the city where she knew Edward was looking for her? Edward started to realize the path was becoming more defined as he ran. They were catching up to her quickly. Had she slowed, or even stopped? He stepped up his speed, moving faster than he ever had before.

He heard the crackle of the comm unit in his ear, Tony beginning to say something, then he was knocked sideways with a force that sent him flying, taking down several trees before he slammed to a halt against a rock outcropping. The air was full of dirt and debris raised by his fall, but through the darkness, he could hear the high pitched laughter of his prey. He snarled as he charged through the barrier of settling dust, using his hearing to locate and charge the woman. He caught a flash of red as she slipped away from his grasp, dancing around him. He moved again, anticipating her evasion and slamming into her with a thunderous crash, throwing them both into the underbrush around them. He heard her hiss as she shoved back against him, throwing him off.

She began to run again, but this time he was right on her heels, reaching out to grab her as she ran. Then he caught the thoughts of another just in time, and leaped backwards. She glanced behind her, surprised by his sudden retreat, and was blown backwards by a blast of bluish-white light that descended from above. Edward heard the ear splitting scream of stone cracking, and her animalistic yell. He rushed after her again, the flashes of white on the ground evidence of the damage done by Tony's repulsor blast. She was running now, in full retreat after being injured and realizing she was outmatched. But it was too late. They had her.

Above him, Edward heard another blast fired off, and saw the energy strike a dozen or so yards in front of him, sending rocks and dirt and pieces of destroyed trees into the air. Then Tony landed just ahead of him, his arms raised to fire another shot. "Where are you, you..." he heard Tony mutter under his breath. Edward stopped and listened, trying to hear her movements. Then he heard the whispering brush of leaves overhead.

"Tony!" he shouted in warning, seeing him begin to turn just as the woman landed between them, having jumped from the branches above. Before he could react, she had grabbed the man, lifting and throwing him easily despite the heavy armor he wore. Edward heard the crunch of metal and the exclamation of pain as he hit. He didn't stop to think as he charged after her, managing to briefly grab a hold of her before she threw him off again with a shriek. He slammed into a tree, dazed for a moment, then jumped to his feet and gave chase again.

By the time he caught sight of her again, she had made it to a little clearing where Tony had fallen. The helmet of the armor had been removed, obviously damaged in her attack. A sickeningly familiar smell filled the air, and Edward noticed a trickle of blood dripping from a cut above Tony's eye. Edward ran ahead as he saw her move towards the man, no longer paying attention to Edward at all. He saw Tony raise his arms, firing another jet of energy. She danced out of the way of the blast, the beam shattering trees behind her. Then she moved with a speed that Tony couldn't see, and Edward shouted a moment too late. She had stalked around behind the man like an invisible lion, and had thrown herself towards him. Edward ran, but knew he wasn't close enough. He saw her grab a hold of Tony, her arms around the chest of the armor and was crushing it with a strength that hadn't been imagined by its creator.

Tony twisted and fought to get her off, but wasn't having any luck. She was simply too much for him once she had him in her grasp. Without a thought, Edward threw himself towards the pair, swinging around to wrap his arms around her throat. She screamed in fury as he latched onto her, loosening her grip on Tony. It was enough for Tony to rip himself away from her, turning to grab a hold of her struggling form himself.

Edward knew it was finished. There was no escape for her this time. She tried in vain to throw them off, screaming in rage as Edward wrapped himself around her, his head bent against her throat. Then the screams stopped abruptly, and the struggling form went limp. Edward pulled away, and the tangled mess of red hair and white skin fell away, dropping to the ground at their feet. Edward threw the rest of the body away from them, then moved about the clearing, gathering bits of the shattered trees and making a large pile. Without a word, he picked up the body of the woman and threw it onto the pile. Then gesturing at Tony, he stepped back as the man raised his arm and fired a shot of flame towards the pile. Then Edward watched as Tony bent down, picking up the severed head of the woman. He stared at it for a moment, then threw it into the flames with a snarl.

They watched silently as the purplish grey smoke filled their air with its sickly sweet stench. They watched until it had burned itself out, then Edward made sure the flames were extinguished. It was finally over. Edward felt a measure of relief that the hunt had reached its end. He turned back towards Tony, and was about to suggest they make their way back to his estate, when the man gasped and collapsed onto his knees. "Tony!" Edward exclaimed, rushing to the man's side.  
"Home," he said, his voice barely above a whisper, then he passed out.


	19. Chapter 19

Bella watched the readouts from Tony's armor for a long while after he had flown out of the workshop. She couldn't shake the knot of fear that had overcome her since they began talking about tracking down Victoria. Finally, she decided she needed to do something, anything, to take her mind off of the fact that Tony and Edward were out there facing the danger that was hers. And so she tried to turn her thoughts to more mundane things. The first thing that came to mind was Twain. It seemed like ages since she had worked on his programming, though really it had only been a few days. So much had happened in the last 2 days, that it didn't feel like such a short time had passed. She didn't have access to her system, but maybe she could talk to Jarvis about things she could work on when she did have access. Nodding to herself, she decided that was the best way to pass the time.

"Hey Jarvis," she said to the AI, "can I ask you some questions about your programming? Something to work on with my own system?"

"Of course Bella," the smooth voice said from a speaker off to her right. She turned and smiled as she saw Jarvis' holographic projection sitting on the worktable once again. It was easier for her to talk to him when she could see him. Talking to a disembodied voice was a little awkward. "Do you wish me to establish a connection with your system? It would make it simpler to advise you."

"You can do that?" Bella asked, surprised.

"I can," he replied. "Your system is accessible through the Stark Industries server, as it is connected to the wireless infrastructure at the complex."

"Um, yeah, that'd be great," she replied. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised. The complexity of Tony's systems, both here and at the complex downtown, were astounding.

"Connections complete," Jarvis said. Before Bella could respond, she heard another voice coming from the speakers.

"Ms. Bella?" she heard Twain say, and she glanced at Jarvis' holographic form with a raise of her eyebrows.

"I'm here Twain," she said. She hadn't really expected to be able to hear and speak to Twain through the connection, but it was nice that Jarvis was able to accomplish it.

"I was woken by a stranger, who said you asked for me," Twain said, and Bella swore he sounded almost frightened, though she knew it was simply her imagination.

"I know Twain, I'm sorry about that. I can't get to the apartment right now. The one who woke you was Jarvis. He's an AI program just like you. Mr. Stark's system."

"I see," Twain replied. "It is nice to meet you Jarvis," he said, and Bella smiled to herself at the pleasantries he offered. It was a null program to him, but she had felt some odd social obligation to program them in anyway.

"It is nice to meet you as well Twain," Jarvis replied. "Ms. Bella has asked me to assist her in advancing your programming to a higher level. Would you allow me to scan your codes to assess where adjustments and additions would be productive?"

"Ms. Bella?"

"Go ahead Twain, you can trust Jarvis. I do." Bella waited for a few moments as Jarvis began his scan, watching as the codes and programs she had written into Twain flashed across the monitors in the workshop. When she sat back and looked at it all again, she was quite impressed with herself. Of course Tony had helped her quite a bit with the most recent additions, but still. For someone who could do little more than access her e-mail and do a Google search a year ago, she had certainly come quite a ways.

"Scan complete," Jarvis said after a moment. "I see that Mr. Stark has been assisting you already. Several of the heuristic programs bear a unique resemblance to my own. Recommended upgrades showing now," and the monitor in front of Bella scrolled with descriptions of programs that Jarvis was suggesting. "And Mr. Stark has found Mr. Cullen. They are in pursuit of target."

"Thanks Jarvis," Bella said looking over the scrolling text on the monitor. "Are these your own programs?"

"With some minor variations," Jarvis replied. "Twain has the beginnings of a distinct personality within the limited codings available. With a few of the advanced programs displayed, you could allow him to develop more fully."

"Awesome," Bella said. "Can you do the updates from here, or do I need to manually input them on my computer?"

"I can accomplish the task remotely," Jarvis said. "Do you wish me to do so?"

"Yes, please."

"As you wish."

Bella leaned back in the chair as Jarvis began the upload, watching as the programs checked off on a list as each was completed. Then Jarvis' voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Mr. Stark has become quite agitated," he said, and Bella glanced back at the monitor showing the readouts of the suit. Tony's heart rate and respiration had both increased dramatically.

"Did they find her?" Bella asked, suddenly finding her worry at the front of her mind again.

"Negative," the AI replied. "They are at Ms. Potts' apartment unit."

Bella was confused for a moment. Why were they at Pepper's place? Then she slowly began to understand. And when Jarvis allowed the comm units to play over the speakers, her fears were confirmed.

 _"I'm sorry,"_ Bella heard Edward say. "She must have gone after Ms. Potts when she couldn't get to you."

 _"Find her,"_ Tony responded, and the dead tone of his voice sent a chill through her. _"Find her, so that I can kill her."_

"Oh my god, Pepper," Bella said, her face going even more pale than normal. Pepper had been killed by Victoria. Because of her, Tony had lost someone close to him. Bella felt tears welling up behind her eyes. How could she forgive herself for bringing this danger here. How could Tony ever forgive her? Once again, Bella saw her dreams crumbling in her mind. The tears spilled hotly down her cheeks, and she curled in on herself in the chair. "I'm so sorry Tony," she whispered to herself.

Silence filled the workshop then, only interrupted by the whirring of the computer fans. Neither human nor AI seemed to have anything further to say after the dreadful news they had just received. All they could do now was wait and see if Tony and Edward would be able to catch up to Victoria, and how the fight would play out.

It seemed like hours that she sat there in silence, though it wasn't nearly that long. Then she nearly jumped as Jarvis' soft voice breached the silence.

"Target has been located," he said in a quiet tone. "They have engaged." Bella found herself holding her breath as she stared at the monitor in front of her, not really seeing what was on the screen. She prayed that Tony was keeping an even head, not letting his anger and hurt override his judgement. Such a mistake was fatal in this battle. And she hoped that Edward would do his best to keep them both safe.

 _"Where are you, you..."_ Bella heard Tony say over the speaker.

 _"Tony!"_ Edward exclaimed, and Bella bit down on her lip. She heard Tony's grunt of surprise, then a horrid crunching noise. And then the connection went dead.

"Tony!" Bella shouted, though she knew it was pointless. "Jarvis! What happened?"

"The helmet unit of the suit was damaged, communications lost. Vitals are still registering. Heart Rate is accelerated, but within limits. All other vitals within limits."  
"What about Edward? Can you contact him?"

"He is unresponsive, though still on the line."

Bella's hands were white-knuckled around the arms of the chair. Tony was out of contact, and Edward wasn't responding. She wished she could know more details of what was going on out there. Were they ok? Were they both about to die? Would she know if they did? She cringed and felt the tears continue to draw trails down her cheeks as she heard the obvious sounds of struggle over Edward's comm, followed by an inhuman screeching sound. Then everything went silent.

"Tony...Edward," Bella whispered breathlessly, unable to draw in enough air to speak with any volume.

 _"It's over,"_ she heard Edward say. _"Throwing together a fire now. Tony's alright."_ Bella let out the breath she was holding and sobbed in relief. It was over. And they were both alright. It seemed too good to be true.

 _"Tony!"_ she suddenly heard Edward exclaim, and she looked up at the monitor in surprise.

 _"Home."_ Bella heard Tony faintly over Edward's comm.

"The palladium core of Mr. Stark's reactor is almost depleted," Jarvis said. "A replacement needs to be made as soon as possible, before total power failure."

Replacement core? Bella had a flashback to her first night in the city. After dinner, Tony had fallen ill, had said it was nothing but a 'hiccup' in the technology. But she did vividly remember having to help him replace a rusted out metal square in the disc in his chest. That must be what Jarvis was talking about. The device was doing something to keep Tony healthy, and the power source for it was failing. "What happens if there's a power failure, Jarvis?"

"In the event of a reactor failure, Mr. Stark will go into cardiac arrest." Bella wasn't sure how much more she could handle tonight. First Pepper, then the horrid few minutes of the battle with Victoria, and now Tony was dying in the middle of nowhere? "They are on their way back," Jarvis said, disturbing her thoughts. "They are moving quickly. They will be here in time Ms. Bella, do not worry."

"Bella, can you hear me?" she heard Edward say, and she glanced at Jarvis' holographic form, who nodded.

"Yeah Edward, I can."

"I don't know what happened. Tony was fine, then he just collapsed. I'm bringing him back there as fast as I can."

"It's the power core for his chest reactor. It's failing. Get here as fast as you can Edward," Bella said, the desperation she felt obvious in her tone.

"I am." Bella heard the connection click off, and she fell back in the chair. Edward would get him home in time. She had to trust in that.

"Ms. Bella," Jarvis said. "There is an unknown visitor approaching the front door of the house."

"What?" Bella asked, wondering who would be paying Tony a house call at this hour of the morning. "Do you have a camera or something over the door?"

In response to her question, the monitor on the desk switched screens to a camera that was obviously placed near the main entrance to the house. For a moment, Bella didn't see anyone there, then she saw a figure step into the halo of light, and look right into the camera with a little grin and a wiggle of fingers in a wave.

"Alice?"


	20. Chapter 20

Bella raced up the stairs from the workshop, and made her way to the front of the house. What in the heck was Alice doing here now? Bella felt as if her mind was being torn in so many directions this night, and she didn't know how much more she would be able to handle. Reaching the front door, she undid the locks and pulled it open, staring at the pixieish vampire as if she still didn't quite believe that she was there.

"Hello to you too Bella," the girl said with a tinkling laugh, reaching out tentatively to hug her best friends.

"Alice!" Bella finally exclaimed, returning the hug before pulling Alice inside the house after her. "What are you doing here?"

"It's a long story," Alice said with a smile. "Is Edward here, or Tony?"

Bella was leading Alice back down to the workshop as they talked, but turned to look back at her friend, her face falling slightly as her thoughts turned back to Tony, praying they got back soon. "Not just yet...they're on their way..." Tapping the control pad on the glass, Bella pulled open the door to the workshop and made her way back to the monitors. Tony's vitals were dropping quickly. "Jarvis, where are they?"

"They are almost here, estimated arrival is 2 minutes."

Bella looked around Tony's desk, searching for the wooden box she had seen on her first visit to the house. Finding it, she opened the latch and pulled it open. Nestled inside were more of the silver palladium squares that powered Tony's reactor.

"Everything will be just fine Bella," Alice said, her demeanor very confident.

"I suppose you'd be the one to know," Bella said with the ghost of a smile on her lips. She heard the outer door of the workshop ramp opening, and watched as a blur of movement flew down the ramp. Edward was carrying Tony easily, despite the weight of the suit. He stopped in surprise as he saw Alice standing with Bella, but then remembered his burden.

"Where should I put him?"

"We need to get him out of the suit," Bella replied, feeling her heart wrench at the sight of Tony injured and helpless. "Jarvis, is there anyway you can get the suit off of him while he's unconscious?"

"Affirmative. Activating remote motor control functions."

Edward released his hold on the suit as Jarvis took over the motor controls of the armor, controlling it's movements like a puppet, despite the fact that its occupant was unconscious. Bella moved towards Edward, hesitantly reaching to wrap her arms around him in a hug. "Thank you Edward, for everything."

The vampire returned her embrace, but quickly let go, stepping away. "You're welcome Bella."

"Mr. Stark will require support after the armor is removed," Jarvis said, drawing their attention back to the situation at hand. Edward moved towards the platform where the robotic arms were stripping Tony of the Iron Man armor. As soon as they had finished, he reached out to support Tony's weight, picking him up once more and taking him to the small sitting area in the corner of the workshop and laying him on one of the loveseats there. Bella raced over, the wooden box tucked under her arm.

Finding and pulling down the zipper of the armor's undersuit, Bella pulled the neoprene suit down to expose Tony's chest. "Jarvis...how do I take the reactor out?"

"Apply gentle pressure to the reactor, and twist counterclockwise. The implant will click out of place. The reactor core will emerge automatically from the back of the unit."

Following the AI's directions, Bella removed the reactor from it's socket on Tony's chest. She heard Edward behind her gasp in astonishment. She could understand. She had a very similar reaction the first time she had seen Tony remove the reactor, exposing the fist-sized hole in his chest. The back of the reactor opened just as Jarvis had said, and once again, she saw a piece of charred and smoking metal protruding from it. Carefully, she pulled the piece out, throwing it onto the floor and gently replacing it with a fresh piece from the box beside her. She watched as the metal was drawn inside, then she pressed the metal piece back into the socket on Tony's chest, gently clicking it back into place.

Bella held her breath as she heard it click back into place. For a moment she felt her world ending as nothing happened. Then the bluish light flickered for a moment, then burned bright. Turning her eyes back to Tony's face, she raised her hand to rest against his cheek. "Tony? Tony, wake up please," she begged. She felt tears running down her cheeks as she continued her whispered pleas to him. It seemed ages before she saw the flutter of his eyes beneath their lids, then they opened slowly, their blue depths hazy.

"Bella?"

"Yeah, it's me. You're alright now Tony," Bella said, her fingers stroking along the line of his jaw. "It's over."

"Over..." his voice was quiet, the whisper barely audible in the quiet of the room. Bella looked down at him, and started slightly at the sight of a tear track tracing its way down his cheek.

"Tony?"

She was surprised when he shifted, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her down against him. She felt his breath stirring her hair, and could have sworn he was sobbing.

"Pepper...she killed Pepper."

"I know Tony...I'm so sorry," Bella said. "I'm so very sorry."

Bella heard a soft noise from behind her, and gently pulled away from Tony's grasp, turning her head to see Alice settling into a chair nearby. "Oh," Bella said, glancing back at Tony, then towards Alice. "Tony, this is Edward's sister Alice. She showed up just before...just a few minutes ago."

Edward kneeled down on the floor next to them, his eyes on Alice. "Why are you here Alice?"

Alice swept her golden gaze across the three of them, before settling her gaze on Edward. "Carlisle is here as well," she said finally. "He's at a little cabin in the hills on the other side of the city. I made him come down with me after I had a vision a few days ago."

Bella's brow furrowed as she listened to Alice speak. What could she have possibly seen that made her come to the city from wherever they were living down, dragging Carlisle along with her. Beside her Edward gasped, and Bella turned towards him. He was staring at Alice intently, obviously having picked up on her thoughts. "Care to share?" Bella asked, glancing between the two.  
"Please do," Tony added. "I'm confused as hell."

Alice turned her eyes towards Bella and Tony. "A neighbor heard the disturbance and called the police. When the emergency teams got there, she wasn't dead yet. They did an emergency transfusion. That saved her life, for the most part. They had her in the hospital, and couldn't figure out what was wrong. That's why Carlisle came with me. He pulled a couple of the strings and got her transferred to his care, and took her out of the city to our cabin."

Bella couldn't believe what she was hearing. Could Alice really mean what it sounded like she was saying? Bella turned back to look at Tony, who had shifted to a sitting position on the couch. She found him staring back at her, confusion evident in his eyes. "Bella?"

"It's Pepper," she said. Turning to Alice, she looked for confirmation. "Isn't it?" When Alice slowly nodded, Bella felt the last bit of tightness in her heart start to slowly unwind. She turned her gaze back to Tony, feeling tears start to trickle from the corners of her eyes. "She's not dead. Not really."

Tony pulled away from her slightly, watching her with an expression that made Bella feel a little uncomfortable. "What do you mean?"

"She's..." Bella found she didn't really know what to say exactly.

"She's one of us now," Edward said for her. "It was too late to save her life entirely, but by putting blood back into her body, they essentially gave her the means to turn. She's a vampire now."

***

Bella was worried. It had been at least an hour since Tony and Edward had returned, and Alice had given them her astounding news. And Tony hadn't said a word to any of them in that time. After Edward had made it exceedingly plain what Alice was telling them, Tony had excused himself, and left the workshop, going upstairs and locking himself in his office. She had tried going up and talking to him, but he had ignored her knocking. Finally she had given up, and resigned herself to waiting until he was ready to talk. And so she sat in the living room of the large mansion with Edward and Alice. Edward had said that Tony's thoughts were racing so quickly and jumping so randomly all over the place that he couldn't really get an idea of what was going through his mind.

Edward and Alice were making plans to meet up with Carlisle and take Pepper back to their family in Alaska. They were discussing what should be said to explain her sudden departure from the city, and from her job, when they were interrupted by Jarvis. "Bella," he said. "Mr. Stark has asked for you."

Glancing at Alice and Edward, Bella stood and made her way to Tony's office, knocking quietly on the door. "Tony?"

"Come in," she heard him say, and she slowly opened the door, peeking in and seeing him sitting behind the large desk sitting opposite the door. He glanced up at her, and beckoned with his hand. "Come on, it's alright."

As she made her way across the room, Bella was struck by the change in him. He had lost the aura of self-assuredness and cockiness. He seemed smaller somehow. And Bella wondered if he would ever fully recover from the shocks of the last day or two. Once again she felt a deep well of sadness that she had brought all this trouble to his doorstep. "Are you alright?" Bella asked, coming to a stop on the other side of the large desk from where he sat.

"I will be," he said with a sigh. Lifting his arm, he gestured for her to come around the desk, and when she did so, he reached out and pulled her down to sit on his lap. His arms wound around her middle, and he lay his head against her shoulder. "So much is happening so quickly. Ideas and concepts that I am struggling to grasp and make sense of. I find myself in the unusual position of not knowing what to think."

Bella shifted to face Tony, her arms coming to rest around his shoulders. "I know Tony. I felt the same way when I first found out about Edward and his family, what they were. But it'll be ok."

"Yeah, I think it will," he replied, then pulled her down, pressing his lips to hers in a gentle kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End. There is a sequel, be on the lookout. Please review. Reviews keep me writing!
> 
> To use a modified quote from Harry Lockhart (RDJ's character in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang"): "Yeah, boo, hiss, I know. Look, I hate it too. In movies where the studio gets all paranoid about a downer ending so the girl shows up, she's magically alive on crutches, I hate that. I mean shit, why not bring them all back. But the point is in this case, this time, it really happened. Pepper, like, lived. Yeah, it's a dumb movie thing, but what do you want me to do, lie about it?"


End file.
